AFTER fine performances from Scottie Thompson and Kai Sotto on Thursday, Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone couldn’t help but think of what could've been had the two been together during the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Thompson was ruled out of the Riga, Latvia tournament after a back injury, and Thursday saw the former PBA MVP mark his return to the national team with 12 points, four rebounds, and six assists in Gilas’ 93-89 win over world No. 22 New Zealand in their FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifier.
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Sotto was there for the OQT, but missed the important semifinal game against Brazil that eventually knocked Gilas Pilipinas out of contention for a slot in the Paris Olympics after a 71-60 defeat.
The Japan B.League big man had 19 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists on Thursday.
“The OQT was fantastic. I thought we would have done a lot better if this guy hadn’t got hurt,” said Cone, referring to Sotto. “That kind of put us behind the eight-ball.”
“Again, you can see the effect that Kai has on the game. And you can also see the effect that Scottie has on the game. We didn’t have Scottie in the OQT as well.”
The OQT had Gilas shocking a lot of people especially the home fans in Riga when the Philippine team defeated world No. 6 Latvia, 89-80, with the squad that was also without AJ Edu and Jamie Malonzo due to injuries.
Cone said he would have loved to have the four players around in that semifinal game against Brazil.
“We played Brazil, the No. 12 team in the world, without Kai, without Scottie, without AJ Edu who will eventually impact us because of his defensive skills that really complement Kai and some of the things that he does, and Jamie Malonzo as a stopper,” said Cone.
Even in the New Zealand game, Cone said it would have been better if Malonzo was healthy enough to play as he could've been an additional defender against Tall Blacks veteran Corey Webster, who had 25 points and knocked down 5 of his 6 threes in the contest.
"You put a Jamie Malonzo, a 6-6, a 6-7 quick guy on a Corey Webster, he's going to give Corey Webster all kinds of problems because he has that speed, quickness, and length to give them trouble," said Cone.
Needless to say, Cone is happy with the progress that the team is making since he took over the Gilas program fulltime this year, having already defeated sone of the top teams in the world.
“We haven’t seen our best team yet. And yet, we’ve been able to beat No. 6 and No. 22. We are still trying to see exactly where we can go and how far we can go,” said Cone.
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