Jeffers to stay for Gov Cup

MANILA, Philippines – Since Barangay Ginebra has a pair of towers in 6-11 Greg Slaughter and 6-9 Japeth Aguilar, coach Tim Cone is keeping 6-5 import Othyus Jeffers for the PBA Commissioner’s and Governors Cups this season. Cone said the other day Jeffers isn’t quite like Marqus Blakely whom he coached for five conferences with the Purefoods franchise as he’s more of an Arizona Reid type only a tougher defender and stronger rebounder.

Jeffers, 30, is signed up for both the second and third conferences this season. If the break between the Commissioner’s and Governors Cup is longer than a month, Jeffers will return to the US during the interval. But if the break is shorter than a month, Jeffers will stay in town. The latest ending for the Commissioner’s Cup is May 27. The PBA will then take a break for Gilas to prepare for the FIBA Olympic qualifier set in Manila on July 5-10. The Governors Cup will begin after the qualifier.

“Othyus isn’t a shooter, he’s a scorer,” said Cone. “He’s not the type to linger around the three-point line waiting to take a shot. He’ll occasionally take the triple when it’s available and he can make the shot. I’m not the kind of coach who’ll want an import to shoot threes. I prefer an import who gets involved in rebounding, defense and creating. That’s why I think Othyus is a good fit for us.”

It won’t be Jeffers’ first appearance in the PBA. In the 2014 Governors Cup, he played a game for Talk ‘N’ Text, compiling 38 points and 13 rebounds as the Tropa beat Meralco, 115-99. He hit 2-of-3 triples and 12-of-14 free throws in 42 minutes, shooting 45.5 percent from two-point distance and 66.7 percent from beyond the arc. Jeffers, however, had to leave the league because of a technicality involving the NBA. He was signed to a 10-day $35,868 contract by Minnesota eight days before the end of the regular season. So even if the Timberwolves relinquished his rights, Jeffers was under contract until June 30 or the last day of the entire NBA season. FIBA initially allowed Jeffers a conditional release to play in the PBA pending a resolution of his case by the NBA. Under the rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the NBA couldn’t release Jeffers until June 30 despite Minnesota’s withdrawal of his rights.

Jeffers played 37 games in three NBA seasons for the Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs, Washington Wizards and the Timberwolves, averaging 3.8 points and 2.6 rebounds. He was undrafted in 2008 and worked his way to five 10-day contracts, including twice with the Spurs and twice with the Wizards.

Jeffers was born in the Chicago South Side and grew up in poverty. He was in third grade in 1993 when his older brother Gerome was shot to death. In 2002, another brother Edward was also murdered in a shooting incident. In 2007, Jeffers himself was shot in the left thigh protecting his sister from being physically abused by her boyfriend Andre Childs. His sister was shot, too. Jeffers was supposed to be in crutches for three weeks but used them only for three days. Within a month after being shot, Jeffers was back on the court playing ball.

Initially, Jeffers wasn’t eligible for a scholarship in an NCAA Division I school so he played for the Los Angeles Southwest College as a freshman. Then, the crack swingman moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago where he averaged 11.6 points as a sophomore and 15.4 points as a junior. He transferred to Robert Morris University for his senior season in 2007-08, averaging 24 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists with the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) school.

Jeffers made a name for himself with the Iowa Energy in four NBA D-League seasons, averaging 18.4 points and 7.8 boards in 141 total games. In 2010-11, he hit at a 21.1 clip. In 2013-14, Jeffers and Ron Howard were named co-MVPs in the NBA D-League. That was the season where Jeffers averaged 21.3 points, 10 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.2 steals. He also shot 52.1 percent from the floor and 72.8 percent from the line.

Last July, Jeffers saw action for Minnesota in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, averaging 9.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in five games. Aside from the PBA, the only other overseas league where Jeffers played was in the Italian Serie A with Cantu in 2009-10.

Cone is looking forward to his second conference with Ginebra. He ran into bad luck in his debut in the Philippine Cup where Ginebra was eliminated in the same way the Barangay got the boot in the same conference last season. Ginebra was shown the exit in a single-game knockout quarterfinal game in successive Philippine Cups.

Cone was a victim of the knockout system when an inspired GlobalPort team upset Ginebra in the quarterfinals to advance to the Final Four of the Philippine Cup this season. “I think we could beat GlobalPort in a best-of-three or best-of-five or best-of-seven series but in a knockout game, you run the risk of playing a bad game while the other team plays great,” he said. “When I coached the national team at the 1998 Asian Games, I felt we could beat South Korea in six or seven out of 10 games. But we lost in that one game that took us to play China instead of Kazakhstan in the semifinals. We lost to China (82-73) then beat Kazakhstan for the bronze medal. Against China, I felt we could win only one out of 10 games so the odds were against us.”

 Cone said he realizes the PBA has to speed up the Philippine Cup to allow more training time for Gilas in between the Commissioner’s and Governors Cups. Ginebra failed to make it to the semifinals in three conferences and posted a 17-20 record last season, prompting a coaching change. The Barangay hasn’t won a title since coach Jong Uichico’s feat in the 2007-08 Fiesta Conference. The championship drought has now extended to 20 straight conferences.