Gilas Pilipinas to 'move forward, get better' after historic run in FIBA OQT, says Cone

The road to the Paris Olympics may have ended, but Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone said the team will be moving forward as it tries to be better.

Gilas fell to Brazil, 71-60, in the semifinals of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament which capped the Philippines' historic run in the tournament.

"The whole part of bringing this particular program together which is different from what we had in the World Cup is the fact that hopefully we keep this guys together over the next 3-4 years, going into the next World Cup," Cone said.

The next FIBA World Cup will be held in Qatar in 2027.

"It's hard to talk about this after you lose but it's a growth experience for us. It's kinda like 'now we know' moment. Now we know we can compete, how can we get that next step in which we can get a little better, not just compete but win?"

Cone was officially handed the keys to the program early this year and right off selected a core of young players with the likes of Kai Sotto, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, and veterans June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, and Dwight Ramos. Justin Brownlee was also named as the team's naturalized player and additional names would be added depending on the need of the team.

"Like I said, I mean we didn't expect to be here but once we're here, we expected to win so it's an incredible disappointment for us. We're not gonna jump up and down and say 'Yay! We did our thing and everybody was proud of us.' Hopefully, that doesn't get into our mindset. We need to keep pushing moving forward, getting better."

While the players will go back to their respective pro clubs or school teams, Gilas Pilipinas will be back in action in November when it plays the second window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

Gilas opened the tournament with an upset against Latvia, the first win against a European team in a FIBA competition in 64 years, followed by back-to-back losses to Georgia and Brazil.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News