Star needs to move on from Cone's departure says Pingris

MANILA, Philippines -- Star’s veteran forward Marc Pingris said the Hotshots can’t afford to give a litany of excuses in the wake of the team’s ongoing struggle in the Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup campaign.

At 3-7, the Hotshots are facing a must-win situation against the dangerous Blackwater Elite (2-7) in their Friday match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

A win by Star would mean outright playoff entry, leaving Blackwater and Mahindra to dispute the 10th and final spot on Sunday at the close of the single-round eliminations.

Pingris said there’s no denying the fact that the team has changed a lot since multi-titled coach Tim Cone left in the offseason to join sister team Barangay Ginebra in a surprise move by the San Miguel Corp. management.

But the bruising Star big man said Cone’s departure and the entry of rookie coach Jason Webb should not be blamed in the team’s woeful performance in the All-Filipino conference.

“Hindi dapat big excuse yung naging coach na namin si coach Jason at saka yung nawala na si coach Tim,” Pingris told Philstar.com after the team’s Wednesday practice at the Ronac gym in San Juan.

“Miss ko talaga si coach Tim sa totoo lang. Marami akong natutunan sa kanya, di lang sa game pero sa buhay, pero kailangan naming mag-trabaho, kasi si coach Tim, di na babalik sa team,” he added.

The Purefoods franchise won five championships, including the grand slam in the 2014 season during the four-year coaching tenure of Cone.

Star also never missed the playoffs during Cone’s successful coaching stint.

And Pingris is hopeful the Hotshots could bank on their vast experience come Friday in order to earn an outright playoff ticket.

“Kapag natalo kami, out na kami so parang championship game na iyan (against Blackwater). So kailangan magtulungan kaming lahat dahil alam ko naman magaling ang mga teammates ko,” he said.

“Yung defense at rebounding lang ang dapat na mag-improve kami.”

Star failed to clinch the outright playoff spot last Sunday after bowing to Barako Bull, 101-83.

The Hotshots will be facing an Elite squad which is fresh from a 116-92 spanking of the Energy last week behind young guard Carlo Lastimosa’s PBA career-best 38 points.