When Tim Cone applied for the position of Gilas Pilipinas head coach, he had a specific vision in mind, ultimately making him the choice to succeed Chot Reyes, as revealed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP).
“All the stars had to align but first off, they had to like me. I had to walk in and share a vision of how the program could be successful without disrupting the shareholders like the PBA and the UAAP. They kind of accepted that vision,” disclosed Cone.
But what exactly was that vision?
Cone envisioned creating a core group of 12 players that would stay together for the next four years, spanning from the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers to, optimistically, the 2028 Summer Olympics.
The handpicked squad by Cone includes six players from the Gilas squad that secured gold in the 19th Asian Games: Justin Brownlee, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez, Jamie Malonzo, and June Mar Fajardo.
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They will be complemented by young talents Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo, Kai Sotto, and Kevin Quiambao.
“We did not want to have a big pool because of the preparation time. If you have a bigger pool, you have to spend time trying out everybody and trying out different combinations to get to your main group and then practice with that main group. We just came in with the guys we felt were the best team we could form,” explained Cone.
The first year of Cone’s tenure as the national team head coach will involve three windows. Gilas will travel to Hong Kong for a road game on the 22nd, before hosting Chinese-Taipei two days later at Philsports Arena.
Then in July, the team aims to qualify for the Paris Olympics in Riga, where they are grouped with Georgia and Latvia.
To conclude the year, Gilas will host New Zealand and Hong Kong for the second window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers.
“We are trying to minimize the amount of preparation that we need to get into each window. We are going to prepare for only seven days for the first window, 10 days for the second, and five days for the third,” added Cone.
Cone is setting realistic expectations for the initial window, acknowledging that it will be a challenging start to the program.
“The first window is going to be magulo. We started so late and we didn’t inform the PBA. Right now, the PBA Finals are going right through this window,” said Cone.
“But after this window, all the stakeholders have agreed to open things up. We just have to fight through this one before settling in when Riga comes.”
