MANILA, Philippines – Already without big man Greg Slaughter (ankle), the injury woes worsened for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel after losing import Paul Harris (thumb) for “at least 4 weeks,” according to team head coach Tim Cone.
Harris, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds in 33 minutes during his debut for Ginebra, left his team’s conference-opening game against GlobalPort on Saturday after fracturing his thumb towards the end of the third period.
Thanks to the strong play of Japeth Aguilar (21 points) and Ginebra’s bench, Cone’s team still won 93-81 to start the Governors’ Cup with a 1-0 record.
According to Cone, the team has “no names yet,” with regards to who will replace Harris. The winningest coach in PBA history also said that, for now, Ginebra will put Harris on “injured reserve and go from there.”
Harris had surgery for his open fractured right thumb on Sunday at St. Luke’s Hospital.
After the win against Ginebra, Cone said that the team is open to a return by its import last conference, Othyus Jeffers.
“That’ll be certainly a possibility if necessary. But we don’t know what he’s been doing for the last month or so, if he’s in shape or whatever.”
Jeffers, who averaged 22.5 points and 15.7 rebounds a game in the Commissioner’s Cup, tweeted on Sunday that he’s willing to suit up for Ginebra again:
{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">To all my NSD family: I really miss you guys and we have unfinished business to accomplish! I'm ready</p>— Othyus Jeffers (@OthyusTheGreat) <a href="https://twitter.com/OthyusTheGreat/status/754552079025336320">July 17, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> {/source}
Ginebra’s next game is on Sunday, July 24, against the Alaska Aces. – Rappler.com