THE wheels are now in motion for Gilas Pilipinas’ preparation for the FIBA Asia Cup 2025.
Head coach Tim Cone said a training camp in Doha is being arranged for the Gilas pool as part of the build-up for two road matches where they will play against Chinese Taipei on February 20 and New Zealand on February 23 – the final window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
“There is a chance we will go to Doha before the next window for some friendlies, scheduled workout, but that’s not a hundred percent yet,” Cone said on the sidelines of Barangay Ginebra’s 93-81 victory over San Miguel in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup last Sunday.
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“That will be part of our preparation. But that’s going to happen February 10th or 11th, we might go there and do our preparation there and then come back,” said Cone.
The national squad will have longer preparation time for the February window as the PBA will take a break at the middle of the Commissioner’s Cup playoffs sometime around February 8 to 10 to give way for Gilas’ build-up.
Gilas Pilipinas has already qualified for the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 after improving to 4-0 during the November window, beating New Zealand and Hong Kong at home.
But the Nationals want to finish with a flourish, and continue the process of developing the team for the actual tournament to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in August.
“The whole idea is to continue to get to know each other. We have such small windows to be together that each window is absolutely crucial to our chemistry and our ability to compete at a high level together," Cone said.
"So all of these games are so important to us. The friendlies are going to be important for us, learning how to go on the road and beat Taiwan, who is a completely different team this time than they were the last time, different coach, different import, they have extra players. We are expecting a big battle from Taiwan.
And then they go to Auckland and play New Zealand at home, that’s going to be a real chore. All this right now is preparation for us to compete in the FIBA Asia,” he added.
Cone said the build-up is part of the Gilas Pilipinas’ goal to become a consistent contender against Asian teams.
In its last tournament featuring the teams of the continent, the Philippines captured a gold medal in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2023.
“We want to be able to get there and compete. There’s going to be a lot of really great teams there – Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle Eastern teams. I’m missing somebody out there but I know there’s going to be a lot of good teams that we are going to compete against,” said Cone.
“The idea is we are going to use this window, hopefully, to prepare and get better for the FIBA Asia."
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