TIM Cone recognized a possible adjustment in the Gilas Pilipinas roster after falling short of a semifinal stint in the 31st FIBA Asia Cup.
But at the same time, the national coach stressed that the core of the men’s team is basically built for the long term and major personnel changes, if any, will be tantamount to a reboot of the Gilas program that he laid down.
“We put this team together for the long term in trying to get them to grow together and get better,” he said following the loss to world No. 7 and defending champion Australia, 84-60, during the quarterfinals on Wednesday night in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
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“And if we’re going to just go ahead and change personnel, then we’re all back to zero again.”
The 67-year-old Cone has basically stuck with the same 12-man unit which he had since the start of the Asia Cup qualification last year. With the exception of the injured Kai Sotto, the original rotation remained the same from the time Gilas played its first game against Hong Kong at the Tsuen Wan Stadium February of last year.
Back for the Asia Cup proper were naturalized player Justin Brownlee, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, Chris Newsome, and Japeth Aguilar.
For a while, Troy Rosario and RJ Abarrientos were called in to add warm bodies when Gilas began its preparation for the Jeddah meet. Fajardo, Perez, and Oftana were still playing in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals back then and missed out on the early training days.
But the two Ginebra players eventually, were left out as Oftana, who suffered a double ankle sprain during the All-Filipino Cup title series, was given a last-minute clearance to play.
Unfortunately, the TNT forward re-injured the same ankle during the final game in the group stage against Iraq, making him day-to-day as the tournament wore on.
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The following game against host Saudi Arabia, Perez followed suit and also went down with an ankle sprain, so much so that by the time Gilas played Australia in the quarterfinals, the Filipinos were now down to a 10-man team.
Cone said there’s no doubt the Boomers were in a class of their own, very athletic, long, and quick to the ball. But possibly, adjustments in the system and personnel can be made to at least be competitive against Australia.
“We’re going to use this and try to make some adjustments. Hopefully, we get,” said Cone.
The absence of the 7-foot-3 Sotto, for sure, was a big downside to the Gilas campaign as the Japan B.League veteran continues his recovery from an ACL injury.
“The big missing piece for us is Kai Sotto. Hopefully, we get Kai back, and that makes us a little bit more competitive,” Cone added.
When the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas submitted the initial Gilas lineup for the Asia Cup, the coaching staff listed Rhenz Abando, Zavier Lucero, Mason Amos, Sotto, and naturalized player Ange Kouame as part of the roster.
But while Cone appears open to making adjustments, a total assessment of Gilas’ performance in its Asia Cup campaign is needed first before any move is made.
“At this point, it’s really too early to look and say that this is what we need at this point,” said Cone. “We got to really digest this, we got to look at videos, we got to see what’s going on, and go forward.”
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