Tim Cone kicked off his first training as Gilas Pilipinas head coach with a beautiful message about unity, camaraderie and teamwork.
“The whole idea is to stick together,” said Cone, the renowned American head coach who is treated as a national hero for leading the Filipinos to their first Asian Games title in 61 years.
“That is something we have done as a national team.”
True enough, there was an aura of positivity and competitiveness in Gilas Pilipinas’ first day of training at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna on Thursday morning.
Save for June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez, everybody showed up led by Philippine Basketball Association players Jamie Malonzo, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, and Calvin Oftana.
Japan-based stars Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto and Carl Tamayo were also there as well as naturalized player Justin Brownlee and University Athletic Association of the Philippines Most Valuable Player Kevin Quiambao of De La Salle University.
Even injured AJ Edu showed up despite the possibility of getting replaced by veteran Japeth Aguilar in the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers against Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei next week.
Fajardo and Perez, meanwhile, were already available but opted to rest following a grueling campaign for San Miguel Beer in the just-concluded Commissioners’ Cup best-of-seven finals series.
The Beermen formally won the title over Magnolia, 4-2, late Wednesday.
“We are expecting them tomorrow,” said Gilas team manager Richard del Rosario, who was in the camp together with Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio.
Cone admitted that staying together as one solid unit is a must knowing that the road to the Paris Olympics and the Asia Cup will not be easy.
“What we hope for is to show our best potential. That means that we’re going to have a lot of failures. Not everything’s going to be smooth, not everybody’s going to be happy all the time,” said Cone, a master motivator who won a record 25 titles in the PBA.
“If we can do that with our best guys, and we feel that you are our best guys, we can compete on the world stage.”
