CHOOSING a permanent or a Gilas Pilipinas head coach for a long term employment was not as difficult as some people may think. It was really easy. The difficult part was convincing the person to accept the job.
When Tim Cone was offered to take on the head-coaching position for the next Fiba cycle, the PBA's winningest coach and architect of the country's return as Asian basketball kingpin, did not jump with joy.
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He probably asked many questions, set a few conditions, requested assurances of independence and finally, perhaps pinned the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP) on what it really wants to accomplish with him on board.
When eventually these questions were answered to Cone's satisfaction, it was only then that he accepted the job. A big and herculean undertaking considering the challenges that lie ahead.
Panlilio sees Cone as the embodiment of the person the SBP and the country need as it prepares for the FIBA tournament this year, next year and beyond.
The SBP chief knew that Cone is the right man for the job after the coach showed his brilliance and tactics in capturing the Asian Games gold medal last year that ended decades of heartache for the Philippines.
Panliio then explained some more why Cone was best for the job.
“Hands down for me, Tim Cone has proven himself many times over,” Panlilio said during SBP’s press conference prior to Gilas Pilipinas’ open practice on Monday at the Philsports Arena. “That Asian Games medal was delivered by Tim. To me, there’s no other choice except to really offer it to Tim.”
“If Tim said no, that’s was the [only] time that I would start looking at other coaches,” said Panlilio.
Panlilio said there were a lot of discussions between him and Cone about the Gilas program and the head-coaching position. And in the talks, Panlilio was able to discover that he and Cone had a similar vision for Philippine basketball, which is to become the best in Asia.
That goal was achieved during the Asian Games, but Panlilio said he wants to surpass that feat, and the Fiba Basketball World Cup 2027 in Qatar will be their target.
Targets alinged
For Panlilio, if Cone already did it in the Asian Games, he believes the 25-time PBA champion can also do so in a Fiba setting.
“We want to improve every time,” said Panlilio. “If you talk about the World Cup, we qualified in the last three... We want to qualify again to the next World Cup but we want to do better.
"My aspiration in the last World Cup was at least two wins but we felt short. We haven’t had two wins in the World Cup. And if you notice, the Top 16, there was no Asian team. We are all in the bottom. Maybe we can do better than that next time.”
“A lot of this vision and this aspiration was due to the discussions with Tim. I also have to understand how Tim is thinking about the whole process. And he did say that we always want to be the best in Southeast Asia for sure, and we always want to be the top team in Asia. We started that with the Asian gold last year and we carry that for the next four years,” said Panlilio.
The talks cemented a rare plan never undertaken before and that was to form a compact 12-man pool that will be committed to the program for four years.
“I know Tim will say that any other coach will have a different line-up. But in his system, and the way he wants to run the program, this is the 12 that he is looking at to deliver that vision. We started with that and I sort of agreed with a lot of things that Tim said and the targets that we wanted to put forward. We were aligned from Day One in terms of the vision,” said Panlilio.
“Took a bit of time for me to convince him to say yes but we were sort of aligned. We wanted to improve the standings of the Philippines. Once you perform internationally, the rankings follow. I told Tim, why can’t we be in the Top 20 at some point. I know it’s a hard task. But we want to be better,” said Panlilio.
Panlilio admitted they talked about hiring a foreign coach if Cone declined the SBP offer, but he concluded this Plan B had a drawback.
“You are hiring a foreign coach but you only need him, as Tim said, maybe 40 days of the year. What does he do the rest of the year?”
At the end of the discussion, which naturally was to the satisfaction of the SBP, Cone said it was an honor being chosen the Gilas Pilipinas head coach.
"I feel like I'm a caretaker of something that is very sacred. It's something that I grow up with," said Cone.
Whether the SBP and Cone's vision becomes a reality, only time will tell.
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