By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The winningest coach in the history of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is ready to render his services with the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team in the next window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Current Gilas head coach Chot Reyes revealed that the plan is to bring in Tim Cone as soon as possible since the Ginebra chief tactician is on a break after the Gin Kings suffered an early exit in the ongoing 2022 PBA Philippine Cup playoffs.
“We’ve had several discussions already with Tim, but this is the first time that he is going to actually sit down with the rest of the coaching staff to brainstorm and put that final pool together,” said Reyes.
According to Reyes, Cone will be meeting with him and the rest of the Gilas coaching staff today to discuss the formation of their roster for the fourth window of the FIBA Asian qualifiers.
The TNT Tropang Giga mentor also bared that Cone will be bringing in some of his players from Ginebra although he is yet to name a single player that has already committed for the national team.
Almost a bulk of the current roster of the Gin Kings already has FIBA international basketball experience with the likes of Japeth Aguilar, LA Tenorio, Christian Standhardinger, Scottie Thompson, and Stanley Pringle.
However, Reyes, Cone, Goldwyn Monteverde, Nenad Vucinic, and Jong Uichico will still finalize the final lineup that will compete on August 26 and August 30.
Gilas will be looking to get back at Lebanon on August 26 after suffering a 95-80 loss during their opening game at the FIBA Asia Cup.
Meanwhile, Gilas will have the tough task of decoding the Saudi Arabian national team that recently fielded a towering lineup during their recent international basketball competitions.
