San Miguel Beermen gunslinger Alex Cabagnot admitted to his fascination for young gun Trevis Jackson, saying that the way the Marinerong Pilipino point guard reminds him a lot of teammate Chris Ross.
In a tweet of his on the night of June 21, the 35-year-old asked if Jackson, who is now in his second PBA D-League conference, is the version 2.0 of Ross, one of the PBA’s top point guards today due to his all-around brilliance.
“He reminds me of Chris Ross for some reason,” said Cabagnot on Monday, when he saw Jackson drop 20 points, six rebounds, five assists, and a steal in, unfortunately, a 79-97 loss to Orlan Wamar and the CEU Scorpions.
Cabagnot shared that he has already told Ross about it, and the latter welcomes the thought. The 13-year pro also added that Jackson’s explosiveness and quickness are the things that made him compare the 22-year-old to Ross.
“I always tell Chris Ross about it: he reminds me of you in a way, of how quick, of how explosive they can be,” said Cabagnot. “Pero siyempre naman, Chris Ross is incomparable.
“Pero I just see glimpses of a Chris Ross-type.”
Jackson’s sights are set on – of course – the PBA. Cabagnot said that a lot is in store for the 6-foot Filipino-American, so he hopes that Jackson will be able to learn all the lessons he can in the D-League for a better transition to the pros.
“There’s a lot of opportunities for him at the next level. Sana ma-take advantage niya muna yung mga kailangan niya malaman dito sa level na ‘to, kasi this is the learning grounds,” said Cabagnot, the second overall pick of the 2005 Draft.
“Siyempre ‘pag dumating ka na sa PBA, it’s a different story. Not just me saying that I’m biased, pero it’s a different story. There’s a lot of guards coming up. I’m 35, so there’s a lot of 24, 25, 26, 27, 28-year-old guards coming up,” he pointed out.
“I want him hopefully to learn the stuff that he needs to learn here para his next step will be as smooth and as fluid as possible.”
Being compared to one of the league’s elite is definitely high praise, and that might raise expectations. Which is why Cabagnot made it clear that he doesn’t want to put any pressure on the Sacramento State product.
“I don’t wanna put pressure on Trevis Jackson that he’s Chris Ross – Chris Ross is huge shoes to fill. I want Trevis to make his own name for himself,” he stated. “But he has great potential.
“I’m excited for him in the future.”
