Tim Cone is officially Gilas Pilipinas coach; 12-man core named

It’s official: Tim Cone will nonetheless deal with the Gilas Pilipinas nationwide crew.

The affirmation was made by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas on Monday.

Cone will deal with the lads’s basketball crew beginning within the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in February and the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

“Coach Tim accomplished what has not been done in decades with only a few weeks to prepare and multiple challenges in terms of personnel so we’re excited to see what he can accomplish with a long-term program in place especially if such program is supported by all basketball stakeholders.” SBP President Al Panlilio mentioned in a press release.

Part of Cone’s core crew are Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez, Jamie Malonzo, June Mar Fajardo, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo, Kai Sotto, and Kevin Quiambao. Justin Brownlee will take the naturalized participant spot, pending FIBA’s determination relating to his eligibility.

Cone steered Gilas to the Asian Games gold medal final October.

This will probably be Cone’s fourth stint because the nationwide head coach, as he dealt with the Centennial Team within the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games and the Gilas squad within the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

—Justin Kenneth Carandang/JMB, GMA Integrated News

Source: www.gmanetwork.com