GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone admitted he is not inclined to handle the national team for the Southeast Asian Games later this year if it doesn’t comprise the current pool of players he personally put together for international tournaments.
Cone said it will be difficult to teach the Gilas’ offensive and defensive system, including the triangle offense, to a new group of players in such a short period of time for the SEA Games set from December 8 to 20 in Thailand.
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At the moment, player availability is going to be an issue for the SEA Games in which the men’s team is the defending champion since it doesn’t fall in a FIBA window, meaning players based overseas such as Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo, and Kevin Quiambao are not obligated to be released by their mother teams.
The PBA, where the rest of the players such as eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo and Scottie Thompson are suiting up, will also have its season in full swing during the duration of the SEA Games, and it is not clear at the moment whether they will stop play for the biennial multisport event.
“I don’t think there is anything being decided. The only thing I have said to the SBP is that if we can’t bring our roster, then I’m really not interested in coaching it. I’m not going to leave Ginebra to coach it, that’s for sure. I’m not going to leave them in a bind. They are trying to figure something else out,” Cone told SPIN.ph.
“[If] the PBA can’t stop for us, then I’m not going to coach, I’m gonna get a group of people I don’t know and try to teach them the triangle in a couple of days, and then try to go out and do well,” said Cone.
“So it’s just gonna have to be a different approach,” said Cone, who was an assistant coach to Chot Reyes when Gilas Pilipinas captured the SEA Games gold medal in Cambodia in 2023.
Cone admitted the SBP is already in the process of determining what kind of team and who will be the coach for the SEA Games, if there will indeed be unavailable players from the current Gilas pool.
“We have some ideas on how will it be and someone who will be willing to coach, and would be a good coach to do it. Right now, the only reason I would want to go to the Southeast Asian Games is to bring the group and get more experience together.
"If we can’t bring the group and get experience together, there is no reason for me to go and for me to take a team and leave Ginebra which is going to be ongoing. I really don’t have any interest with that,” said Cone.
Cone also said his focus right now, Gilas-wise, is the coming FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in August.
“It’s not gonna happen [SEA Games] till December so it’s not like we have to make the decision right now. It’s not like we are going to train for three months for the Southeast Asian Games. It has time to develop.”
“I think it’s much ado about nothing at this point because it is still so far away. But obviously, we don’t want to come in to the last week and say, ‘Oh, we don’t know who is going to coach.’ We do need to make some plans but those plans will be settled sooner.
“Right now, my total focus is on the Asia Cup,” said Cone.
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