TIM Cone and Alfrancis Chua were hailed by PBA officials for the work they did in Gilas Pilipinas' historic run to an Asian Games basketball gold medal.
Cone took over the reins of Gilas from Chot Reyes on an interim basis, but only if Chua joined him as team manager in Hangzhou, China. The result was the country's first Asian Games men’s basketball gold medal in 61 years.
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“Tim is a players’ coach. This guy (Chua) gets into the mind of every player,” said PBA chairman Ricky Vargas. “He is like our tatay. He can shout at you. He can tell you what’s wrong with you and they will not get mad.”
Vargas even joked about the ability of the concurrent San Miguel Corp. sports director to motivate the team, even those from the rival MVP camp.
“Natatakot na nga ako baka lumipat na si '[Chris] Newsome sa Ginebra, pati si [Calvin] Oftana,” said Vargas in jest.
Cone added the Asian Games gold to his swelling collection that already includes 25 PBA championships and two grand slams, doing so after being appointed just three weeks before the start of the quadrennial tournament.
Vargas admitted that the gold medal was really unexpected considering the challenge the team had to go through especially amid all the line-up changes.
“Personally, happy na talaga ako sa number four sa hirap namin,” said Vargas, who is also TNT board governor. “To be able to achieve the Top Four, I was happy… Then we beat China. Miracle win… I said, 'Then let’s go for it.'”
“We have a genius on the bench,” said PBA vice chairman Bobby Rosales. “Tim Cone, a master tactician and, given the time constraints to prepare a plan, he was able to simplify the complicated so that these players will be able to adopt to his system.”
'Genius on the bench'
Rosales agreed with Vargas’ observation that Chua has the ability to motivate the players and get into their minds to perform at a high level.
“Kung nakita niyo lang siya every time there is a timeout, pagod na pagod na ‘yung mga players especially [Justin] Brownlee. Hahaplusin si Brownlee, kulang na lang halikan niya, binubulungan niya,” said Rosales.
"Hindi lang si Brownlee, pati ‘yung ibang players, sila Oftana, Newsome, lahat sila."
Rosales added: “We had a genius on the bench and a true leader in the team."
Vargas also credited the players for buying into the system of Cone so quickly, enabling them to work together as one unit during the Asian Games.
“Iba ‘yung team na ‘to. This team was one. They are not the best on paper. And you might criticize us for not getting the best on paper. But they were the best in Asia,” said Vargas. “Not the best. They wanted to play."
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