NEWLY appointed Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone said he wants to keep the 12-man team intact to ensure the players develop into one cohesive unit as they play in various international tournaments.
Cone, named Japan B.League Filipino imports Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, Dwight Ramos and Carl Tamayo in the team, along with La Salle star and UAAP Season 86 Most Valuable Player Kevin Quiambao.
Six PBA players were also included in the team led by seven-time league Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo and recently awarded Best Plater of the Conference, CJ Perez of San Miguel, with Scottie Thompson and Jamie Malonzo of Barangay Ginebra, Meralco’s Chris Newsome and TNT shooter Calvin Oftana.
Justin Brownlee is the designated naturalized player that will definitely bolster the Gilas’ line-up as he is already familiar with the style of play of the team.
“As we are saying, we want to keep this team intact because every time we either grow from the success or failure that we have. It kinda looks like a PBA team or NBA team or B.League team, any kind of basketball team, you keep a team together as much as you can and you try to get them together and learn from the failures and successes,” said the 66-year-old multi-champion coach.
Despite the challenges of handling Gilas, Cone considers the national coaching job an honor.
This will be Cone’s fourth stint as the national head coach, as he handled the Centennial Team in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games and the Gilas squad in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
With additional report: The Manila Times, Richard Dy
