Band of brothers

It is widely known that Ginebra thrives on brotherhood and camaraderie.

The management of Barangay Ginebra doused ice-cold water on the burning speculations that the faces of its franchise in LA Tenorio and Scottie Thompson are on their way out.

According to social media reports, Tenorio is headed for retirement while Thompson is on the trading block, prompting the Kings to acquire new pieces in their quest for a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) title.

Tenorio is no longer getting any younger at 35 and he could start his transition to retirement by exploring the possibility of becoming a coach or team executive.

After all, he has been serving as mentor inside the court starting with San Beda University in high school and Ateneo de Manila University in college before being tapped by San Miguel Beer as the fourth overall pick of the 2006 Rookie Draft.

Seeing him barking instructions at the sidelines would be a sight to behold, similar to other distinguished and outspoken court generals like Olsen Racela, Robert Jaworski and Alex Compton.

On the same note, it won’t be surprising if Thompson decides to move elsewhere.

Those who are closely monitoring the country’s most popular team are aware that the prized swingman is on a slump.

After being selected by Ginebra as the fifth overall pick of the 2015 Rookie Draft, Thompson blossomed into a star right away as his incredible nose for the ball, high basketball intelligence quotient and winsome smile made him dear to the club’s legion of fans.

But in the ongoing Governors’ Cup, his performance is simply in the red.

In his first five games with the Kings, he posted an average of 5.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.6 rebounds per game, numbers that would hardly make an impact in a conference dominated by former NBA campaigners like KJ McDaniels of TNT KaTropa, Manny Harris of NLEX and Alonzo Gee of Phoenix Pulse.

His lack of shooting has always been the subject of social media discussions as foes are now exposing him by giving him a lot of good looks from the perimeter. As they say: The best way to defend Thompson is to give him that jumper.

Still, Ginebra team manager Ramboy Rodriguez shot down these rumors.

Rodriguez said Tenorio and Thompson are not going anywhere.

Tenorio, in fact, just signed a fresh deal that would last until 2023 while Thompson remains to play a crucial role in the rotation of the Kings.

Although Rodriguez admitted that Tenorio is no longer getting any younger and Thompson is struggling, it doesn’t mean that the club would ship them away.

“One bad game doesn’t mean that you will trade the player away. It happens to everyone,” the Ginebra executive said.

It is widely known that Ginebra thrives on brotherhood and camaraderie.

Jaworski won the hearts of the masses not just because of his kill-or-be killed mentality and never-say-die attitude, but also because of the way he treated his wards from Rudy Gonzalgo, Chito Loyzaga, Dondon Ampalayo, Leo Isaac, Sonny Cabatu up to the time of Vince Hizon, Bal David, Noli Locsin and Marlou Aquino.

In fact, the friendship of Hizon, David, Locsin, Aquino, Jayvee Gayoso and EJ Feihl remains tight up to now that they still manage to spend time with each other, especially during sorties and exhibition games in and out of the country.

When the PBA organized reunion games early this year, the Kings played like long lost brothers compared to the legends from San Miguel Beer, Alaska and Purefoods.

The brotherhood and mutual respect that the previous batch of Kings share have been passed to this generation that it’s nearly impossible to think of Tenorio or Thompson donning different jerseys other than red and white.

But the main reason why this batch of Kings has been as tight as their predecessor is because of its head coach, Tim Cone.

Cone barged into the league as the good-looking, but snobbish, American mentor who served as a perfect anti-thesis of Jaworski.

If Jaworski was donning his skimpy Ginebra shorts, Converse sneakers and worn-out jacket while barking instructions at the sidelines, Cone was fashioning his neatly-ironed long sleeves, slacks and leather shoes as if he’s attending a crucial boardroom meeting rather than calling the shots in a championship game.

In one interview, Cone said that he loves to report for work in corporate attire because for him, basketball is a serious business.

But fate found a way to pull Cone out of Alaska to land at Ginebra and be embraced by its millions of fans, the same people who despised him so much during the Milkmen’s glorious run in 1996.

Now, he’s preaching the gospel of brotherhood and camaraderie to this new batch of Kings on the same manner he did when Milkmen Jojo Lastimosa, Bong Hawkins, Rodney Santos, Kevin Ramas, Poch Juinio and Abarrientos were still applying the Triangle Offense to perfection.

That’s why it’s really hard to imagine seeing Tenorio and Thompson go.

Aside from being the faces of the franchise, they perfectly fit Cone’s system that had resulted to 21 PBA titles with two grand-slam finishes.

Tenorio may be small for a point guard, but he’s the orchestrator of the offense and a pesky disruptor on defense while Thompson could do a lot of things on defense, run the floor and create mismatches, similar to what Cone’s trusted ward in Joe Devance used to do when he’s not injured.

More than that, Ginebra won three of its first five games and they are looking good as the conference heads into the crucial stretch of eliminations. Import Justin Brownlee is still taking it slow while the rest of the squad like Japeth Aguilar, Jeff Chan and Greg Slaughter are not yet displaying their championship forms.

I’m not saying that keeping Tenorio and Thompson is already cast in stone. In this business called basketball, the more you get assurance that you’ll stay, the higher the chances you get traded. But all I’m saying is that dealing them away — or worse, floating the possibility of losing them in the off-season — simply doesn’t make sense.

In short, there’s no pressing need to shake things up.

Tenorio’s retirement and Thompson’s trade could only destroy what Cone had established in the country’s most popular ballclub, which is something that San Miguel Corp. sports director Alfrancis Chua won’t allow to happen.