CHICAGO - Sometime next week, when all the wrinkles are smoothened, the Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas (SBP) will announce a new head coach to lead Gilas Pilipinas through the next Fiba cycle.
Tim Cone, multiple sources told me, is the chosen one. Once he formally assumes the position, Cone will also be given the free hand to pick a team manager to replace the retired Butch Antonio.
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Let me make this clear, Cone is an excellent coach. His record speaks for himself. Any coaching award in the PBA should be named after him.
One other thing is just as clear, though: He is not the guy best-suited to lead Gilas.
Sure, Cone is the reigning king of the Asian Games, a regional event among our neighbor countries that SBP likes to hype more than its actual weight in basketball gold.
As Cone himself will find out soon enough, coaching in the Fiba windows and Olympic levels are a completely different animal.
Cone, a smart man whose brain power probably touches the ceiling of any IQ test, understands the challenges of navigating an unfamiliar terrain.
This is what he told reporters last September.
WHY ME?
"I don't mind helping the team (Gilas) in any other capacity other than as head coach," Cone said. "I would not want to step away from Ginebra. And if I coached the national team, I feel it would deserve my full attention."
Apparently, Cone had changed his stand, which he is entitled to do.
But why does the SBP keep shoving Cone in our throats when his own heart and gut instinct screamed that he wasn't really into this Gilas thing?
Because Tim Cone is palatable to the fans and acceptable to both the MVP and SMC sides.
In other words, the move to anoint him was political and not necessarily logical.
As I've written previously, with Tab Baldwin conveniently tossed aside as though he had ceased to exist, the vastly experienced Will Voigt would have been the better choice.
Voigt, the former national team coach of Nigeria and Angola, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in international play, the likes of which we've seen only through Tab.
Sadly, SBP's insatiable appetite for recycled characters and rehashed plotlines has blinded itself from thinking bolder and bigger outside the box.
Look, if the federation is so inclined to hire in-house, then why not Nenad Vucenic? He's out there consulting for Meralco.
Despite his magnificent credentials, Vucenic doesn't appeal to the masses and the shareholders in a way Cone can mesmerize in a popularity contest.
And that's why Nenad will only be a "resource" and not the main man.
SBP president Al Panlilio, when he steps down from office this September, leaves a legacy of leading a successful Fiba World Cup 2023 hosting.
However, this haphazard, unimaginative, and myopic search for a new Gilas coach could be viewed by jilted Gilas fans as a blot to his resume.
I don't think so.
Al was just one voice in a room full of influential decision-makers whose basketball powers were far greater than his.
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