GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone expects Kevin Quiambao to continue to thrive in the next competitions after his performance in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025.
Cone said Quiambao’s development in the Asia Cup was no longer a surprise as he continued to become comfortable with the Gilas Pilipinas system, and being around with veteran players in the team.
READ: No rest for KQ as he heads to Korea just days after Gilas stint
“The whole idea of this, if we look at the big picture on what we’re trying to do here, is that we’re trying to build a team, just like we’re trying to build a PBA team or an NBA team or a UAAP team, it doesn’t matter. We’re trying to build a team," Cone said in an interview on Power and Play on Saturday.
"And how do you build a team? You get younger players to mix in with veteran players and you let those younger players evolve and get better through experience and opportunity,”
And that’s what KQ has done. That’s the reason why we put him on the team in the very beginning. He was our young gun, along with Carl Tamayo. We wanted those development pieces because we knew over time, they would elevate our game because they would elevate their own game. So that’s was why we put him in place."
In his second FIBA Asia Cup stint, Quiambao emerged as the Philippines’ third leading scorer of the tournament with 12.0 behind Justin Brownlee and Dwight Ramos.
He scored 17 points thrice in the tournament against Chinese Taipei in the group stage, and Saudi Arabia and Australia in the knockout stages.
In the Saudi Arabia game, the two-time UAAP MVP also took big shots in overtime after Justin Brownlee sent the match-up into overtime that led to Gilas Pilipinas beating the host country, 95-88, and gain an entry in the quarterfinals.
Cone shared how, at first, KQ was reluctant to take his shots until the Korean Basketball League campaigner got his rapport with his teammates.
“He has evolved. He has gotten better as we expected and as we hoped. As I said in a couple of interviews, he’s not afraid of the moment. He’s ready to play at any time. He’s ready to play at a high level any time.
He’s not going to be fearful. He’s not going to be afraid to take his shots although I must admit, in the first couple of tournaments we played, he was a little bit afraid to take that," Cone said.
“He was a young guy, and he didn’t want to really step in because he had all these veterans. He was a little bit hesitant to really show his game. But over time, which is what happens with young players, they get comfortable. They get comfortable with their teammates.
They start showing things in practice and teammates start believing in them. They start looking for them as well. And then, they elevate into a bigger role. And that's been the evolution of KQ. It's not unexpected,” Cone added.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
