Tim Cone won’t deny that Barangay Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson was not able to perform well for Gilas Pilipinas during the FIBA World Cup.

He said the reigning PBA Most Valuable Player was still recuperating from injury and was adjusting to the presence of NBA star Jordan Clarkson.

Thompson averaged just 1.8 points, two rebounds and 2.2 assists in the five games he played for Gilas in the World Cup.

Now that Cone has taken over the coaching reins for the nationals’ campaign in the Asian Games, he expects Thompson to redeem himself.

“Going back to where he is comfortable now, [with] what we do at Ginebra, he’s going to be having that more and be with Justin [Brownlee] where he’s very comfortable with, then I think you will see Scottie rise up and be the Scottie that we always love and know,” Cone said.

With Clarkson around, Thompson had a tough time adjusting to his position.

“You also got to remember when JC came to the team that changed the dynamic, because now, he’s the point guard. And that lessened Scottie’s minutes because JC’s handling the ball,” Cone said.

“Previous to that, when Justin was there, he was the lead point guard and Justin was playing three or four. So he was really playing a lot of minutes,” he said.

“So it’s a little bit of criticism that Scottie has gotten which I think was really unfair and unfounded without looking deeper [into] the dynamics of the team change in terms of JC and in terms of the system in which he was trying to play,” he added.

Gilas Pilipinas won just once in five games in the World Cup, finishing in 24th place among 32 competing nations.

In the Asian Games, they will try to improve upon their fifth place finish in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia, where Clarkson donned the national team jersey for the first time. (ABS-CBN News)