I saw the game.
And I saw the problems.
Yes, Japeth Aguilar was part of the problem.
But to make him the scapegoat?
What a bunch of casuals.
If there is one man who is going to defend Japeth, it's going to be Tim Cone. And while part of it is because he plays for the same team as he is coaching in the PBA, Aguilar is one of Tim Cone's success stories along with Sean Chambers, Marqus Blakely, Joe Devance, LA Tenorio, Johnny Abarrientos, Bong Hawkins, Rhoel Gomez, Peter June Simon, Marc Pingris, and Scottie Thompson.
Remember when he was an insane athletic freak during his Ateneo run and then he took his talents to Western Kentucky? We remember the US campaign of Kobe Paras and Bobby Ray Parks because it all started with him. Japeth Aguilar, despite the flaws in his game that were never really addressed during his Western Kentucky run, tried his luck in the NBA, strutted his wares in the NBA Summer League, played a couple of games in the NBA D-League, and returned to the country with a lot of hype but unfortunately not the career guidance he should have had.
Yes, Burger King drafted him first overall in the 2009 PBA Draft after a good campaign with the other PBA players in the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship. And yeah, I know that after he played his first PBA game, he tried to bolt out of his contract to play for the first incarnation of Gilas Pilipinas (known then as Smart-Gilas,) got the ire of Yeng Guiao and the PBA and most media outlets, and it took a four first-round picks from TNT and what TNT got from what's left of Barako Bull (not the Air21 genealogy.)
Oh and by the way, two of those picks turned into June Mar Fajardo and Chris Lutz because this was also when Barako Bull (from the Air21 genealogy) dumbed down on their top picks and sent them to San Miguel.
Rajko Toroman wanted Japeth, but he also said he has a low basketball IQ. In the two years of his original Gilas contract, Japeth played sporadic minutes but everyone agreed that he had potential. That said, Talk N Text and GlobalPort had separate instances to improve Japeth. However, his move to Ginebra made Japeth Like It's Hot the potential Hall of Famer he is now.
And check out the bargain Ginebra got.
GINEBRA
JAPETH AGUILAR (FROM GLOBALPORT)
BARAKO BULL'S 2013 SECOND-ROUND PICK (VIA TALK N TEXT)
GLOBALPORT
JAY WASHINGTON (FROM SAN MIGUEL)
YOUSEF TAHA (FROM GINEBRA)
GINEBRA'S 2013 FIRST-ROUND PICK - TURNED INTO ISAAC HOLSTEIN
PETRON
JASON DEUTCHMAN (FROM GLOBALPORT)
BARAKO BULL'S 2016 SECOND-ROUND PICK - RETURNED TO PHOENIX - TURNED INTO AXEL INIGO
BARAKO BULL'S 2017 SECOND-ROUND PICK - RETURNED TO PHOENIX - TURNED INTO WILSON BALTAZAR
BARAKO BULL
ELMER ESPIRITU (FROM GINEBRA)
Anyway, it was with Ginebra when Japeth Aguilar saw his true potential and the accolades to flaunt. Seven of his eight championships came from Ginebra, with three Mythical First Teams, two Mythical Second Teams, three All-Defensive Teams, two All-Star MVPs, and a Finals MVP during the 2019 PBA Governors' Cup as important PBA milestones.
As for international accolades, Japeth was part of the iconic 2013 FIBA Asia Championship silver medal squad and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal squad, among other medals from different tournaments. Yes, Aguilar played sporadic minutes for most of his Gilas career. That said, one could argue that he could have had a better international career if Tim Cone was his coach.
People expected that Japeth Aguilar was suddenly going to be the defensive wizard to battle against "Brazilian Kevin Durant" Bruno Caboclo, as well as Lucas Diaz. This was why we were getting bigger imports at the start of our Gilas campaign, it's because our team lacked power on the inside.
Again, Aguilar is part of the problem, because you can also single out Justin Brownlee's 5-of-16 game, Chris Newsome's 2-of-8 output, Dwight Ramos' 5-of-12 shooting, and even June Mar Fajardo's 4-of-10 struggle. Aguilar finished the game with four points, six rebounds, and a team-high two blocked shots in less than 20 minutes of action.
Again, Aguilar is part of the problem, but it's just one of the problems.
I can't stress this enough.
And I'm not going to touch on his personal life here. I know Tim Cone said that Japeth was reluctant to join the club, but he eventually did, and it's all that matters.
But then, Cone also said that Gilas needs to improve more to become consistently competitive. This goes for Gilas, and this also goes for us, the Gilas fans. We always fast-forward to the future without checking with the present. We bitched at Tim Cone's decision to carry on with an eleven-man lineup and then gets on his side when we shock the basketball world by defeating Latvia. With troll Japeth when in fact, he would have never had those minutes if Kai Sotto wasn't injured.
It's easy to be a keyboard warrior but again, it takes a lot of balls to coach 12 egos, a coaching staff, and an entire country. This is why I don't really criticize Chot Reyes because I bet under pressure, we would just crumple and drown in tears.
And again, the difference between Chot and Tim Cone is that when it comes to the best living embodiment of the number one coach in the Philippines, no one is better than Tim Cone.
So when Tim Cone is telling us to lay off his guy, he means it.
And as for Japeth Aguilar, you need to suit up when Cone tells you to suit up unless your family tells you otherwise because the worst thing for us fans to do if the team is without Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, and one of the hidden big men gems we have in our arsenal is to destroy the confidence of one of the players who can really help the team the most.