TIM Cone saw it coming.
With the way international basketball has evolved, Cone said not sending the best team to major tournaments would have grave repercussions, just like the fate that befell Gilas Pilipinas at the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.
While Cone didn’t undermine the national team composition that was sent to defend the men’s basketball gold, he still believes having the best players to comprise the Gilas roster would have made a big difference in its campaign.
READ Disaster in Nagoya condemns Gilas to worst Asiad finish ever
“It’s a reminder for us that if we don’t or can’t bring our best players to these international events, we won’t excel,” said Cone in analyzing Gilas’ early exit from the Asiad after a 105-61 rout at the hands of China on Monday at the end of the group stage at the Aichi International Arena.
“We brought some really good players, but we didn’t bring our best players.”
By best, Cone meant having the core of the main Gilas Pilipinas team which has been competing in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
“It would have been nice to have Kai (Sotto) and AJ (Edu), and Q (Quentin Millora-Brown), and Mike Philips, and Dwight (Ramos), and KQ (Kevin Quiambao), and Carl (Tamayo), and the likes. But they weren’t permitted from their mother teams,” said the 68-year-old national coach."
All of them are overseas players suiting up in the Japan B. League and Korean Basketball League.
But since the Asiad is not under the FIBA umbrella, Ramos and Co. were not released by their respective mother ball clubs to the national team.
Sotto, Edu, Ramos, Quiambao, and Tamayo all saw action for the Philippines in the fourth window of the qualifiers last month held at the Mall of Asia Arena where Gilas completed a two-game sweep of its assignments against Jordan and Iran even without the benefit of injured naturalized player Justin Brownlee.
The 38-year-old Brownlee likewise skipped the Asiad title-retention bid, leaving Gilas without a naturalized player unlike the other countries.
Even Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino was left to wonder why other countries like Bahrain showed up in Nagoya with a number of naturalized players in their lineups while the Philippines had none.
“The question is: why do the other countries have so many naturalized players?" said the POC chief. "Why can't we?"
Cone said Gilas would've loved having the same reinforcements, but pointed to the country's tedious naturalization process.
"We would have liked Justin [Brownlee] and Bennie [Boatwright] or even Jordan Clarkson, but none were available, and it's not an easy process to naturalize players like it is in other countries. Even June Mar [Fajardo] would have made an impact," he said.
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