Jeremiah Gray offered a glimpse of Ginebra’s future when he made his PBA debut against Bay Area in Commissioner’s Cup action, Sunday night.
Fully recovered from the ACL injury he suffered during his stint in the PBA 3×3 last December, the 26-year-old swingman logged a total of 10 minutes and 35 seconds in the Kings’ 111-93 slaying of the Dragons.
Photo by PBA Images
“Felt great to be out there,” he said moments after the match at the Philsports Arena. “I’m glad coach Tim (Cone) trusted me to go out there right now.
“Blessed to be able to play again after an injury like an ACL injury. I just feel very grateful to be out there on the court,” he furthered.
Already in uniform since their previous game against Meralco last week, Gray is presently under minutes restrictions, where he’s only allowed to play a maximum of 12 minutes as what the coaches and trainers agreed upon.
“I think it’s like twelve minutes a game right now. He’s (Coach Tim Cone) just trying to see how my body feels, get me back used to the rhythm,” said Gray, who tallied five points and three rebounds against the guest team.
“Not do too much out there yet because, you know, I’m really excited to play and everything,” added the California-born cager.
The second overall pick of this year’s Rookie Draft has yet to reach full health, but is liking the progress he has been making thus far.
(C) PBA Images
“I think I’m making very good progress,” he said. “I have very good trainers around me, the Ginebra staff. And there are very supportive people in my life.
“I just have to mentally get back into the game, and just take it one day at a time and just keep getting one percent better every day,” he added.
It may take a bit more while before Gray unleashes his true potential with the Barangay but head coach Tim Cone already feels excited with what the future holds for the franchise with the young guys in tow.
“This is basically the new Ginebra in many ways,” he said. “With Jamie [Malonzo] and Jeremiah, they add a lot of athleticism to what we do and I think they’re going to be real fun for games as we go forward.
“They’re still learning about us, about their teammates, the system, and we’re still learning about them. So we expect them to really get better.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
