2019 PBA Com. Cup Hot Take: Terrence Jones will be the best import this conference!

One game is enough for me to say that Terrence Jones will be the best import of this conference, unless an injury hits him.

Yes, we have an amazing crop of imports in this cup. Justin Brownlee, Charles Rhodes and John Fields are proven commodities in the Commissioner's Cup. On the other hand, newcomers like Prince Ibeh and Gani Lawal have the credentials and tools to produced great numbers.

But after watching Jones against NLEX, all of them will not be able to match what Terrence will do this season. 

Against NLEX, Terrence manufactured 41 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 3 turnovers. The match was lopsided, so the majority of the second half was used by TNT to get familiar with their import and improved the chemistry.

Jones shot 17/40 in the field, not the most efficient night for the supposed best import of the conference, right? 

Again, we need to understand the context of that game. Out of those 40 shots, I think at least half of them was taken in a one-on-one situation. TNT wanted Jones to try the PBA brand of basketball and be familiar with it so they fed him the ball a lot without running a play for him. 

And if you saw the game you should have noticed that the guy is super athletic, by PBA standards, and also very strong. The combination of those two plus his handle should always give him the upper hand every time he drives inside. 

His dribbling skills are at-par with PBA wing players. He is capable of sneaking through tight spaces because of his handle. That means slow-footed local bigs like June Mar Fajardo, Greg Slaughter and Ian Sangalang will not be able to contain him. Even his fellow imports will struggle. Just ask Curtis. 

His playing style is also an amazing fit to the trigger-happy TNT Ka Tropa. Almost all TNT players can shoot from beyond the arc. That should provide Terrence maximum space to operate. 

Poy Erram, Marion Magat, Curtis Washington and Papot Paredes cannot stop the guy. Terrence even broke out of double teams and managed to score. 

I can continue to rumble about how good he was in that game and how good he will be in their next ten matches but that will be too much. So, let me simplify it.

When I saw the play of Terrence Jones, I saw a legit NBA-caliber player.