MANILA, Philippines, March 2 ------ Tim Cone said Gilas Pilipinas’ roster will remain as is amid growing clamor for changes following a disappointing end to the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. Unbeaten in the first two windows, the Philippines went winless in the third and final window as it fell prey to Chinese Taipei and New Zealand on the road. “At this point, we’re not going to add to the pool, we’re not going to subtract from the pool, unless there’s guys out there that don’t want to join us anymore,” said Cone. “But as long as these guys want to continue to play and represent, we’re going to let them represent.” he added.
The Nationals actually dropped four straight games, counting their back-to-back losses to Lebanon and Egypt in the Doha International Cup in Qatar. But the recent results may have to do with the lineup getting rejigged, particularly after star big man Kai Sotto went down with a left knee injury. Sotto, who averaged 15.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.3 blocks through the Filipinos’ 4-0 start, underwent surgery to repair his torn anterior cruciate ligament and is expected to miss six months for a full recovery.
While Sotto got injured, the national team welcomed back AJ Edu and Jamie Malonzo. Edu delivered in the third window with averages of 8.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.0 block, while Malonzo barely saw action, sitting out against Hong Kong and logging just two minutes against New Zealand. “We came in with the program and we’re going to stick to that program as much as we can. We’re not going to be too hardheaded about it, I guess that’s the way I’m being described at this point, being hardheaded,” said Cone. “People are going to get angry they’re going to get angry at me about it, I guess. That’s the bottomline — we came in with a program, we came in with an idea, and we’re not going to change it at first panic. We’re going to see what happens and take another chance.”
After all, Cone said bringing in new players involves a lot of moving parts. “There’s so many things beyond what people talk about. It’s not just that easy to pull somebody out or to add to the pool or get a bigger pool. There’s finances involved, there’s budget, extra travel time, more practice time,” he said. “It’s not as simple as just saying, ‘Okay, now we’re going to 15, 18, or 20 people.’ It’s not that simple.”
For Cone, the focus should be on getting his tight-knit crew well prepared for tougher competition in the Asia Cup, which will be hosted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in August. The Philippines is out for redemption after it finished ninth in the previous Asia Cup in 2022, marking the first time it failed to reach the quarterfinals in 15 years. “We suffered some failure at this point. Hopefully, we can learn from it,” Cone said. “You don’t learn from success, you learn from failure, and I think that what we said from the beginning: we’re not going to win all the time, we’re not going to be great all the time. And that’s just an impossible thing to do. But we can be better than what we were, that’s for darn sure. We can be better than what we were.”
Source: rappler.com
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