Tim Cone reiterates need for continuity, 'less likely' to expand Gilas Pilipinas pool

After what he deemed was Gilas Pilipinas' trial year, head coach Tim Cone remained firm on his stand of keeping the same group of players in the national team pool moving forward.

This after the results that the decorated tactician has seen over the past year with him calling the shots.

Ever since taking on the interim role back in October 2023 and his official assignment in January 2024, Cone has led Gilas Pilipinas to a number of historic victories, highlighted by their Asian Games gold medal run that ended the country's 61-year wait.

Gilas Pilipinas had also beaten Latvia during the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament last July, allowing the Philippines to its first-ever win against a European team in 64 years. They, however, would bow out of the tournament after losing to Brazil in the semifinals.

Gilas then completed sweeps of the first and second windows of the ongoing 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, including a 93-89 upset of world 22 New Zealand that marked the first time the Philippines had beaten the Tall Blacks in a FIBA-sanctioned tournament.

These contests saw Cone go with the same core, led by Justin Brownlee, Kai Sotto, June Mar Fajardo, Dwight Ramos, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez, Japeth Aguilar, and the other young guns in Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao, and Mason Amos.

"This whole year, as we said earlier before this window started, is a trial year in terms of how we are going to do this," Cone said after their 93-54 beating of Hong Kong on Sunday.

"I mean, I’m just playing on the coattails of Chot Reyes and Tab Baldwin. They’re the ones that got all the players to set this whole thing up."

With how things are going, Cone reiterated he's not inclined to inject more names into the current 15-pool, which also has AJ Edu, Jamie Malonzo, and Ange Kouame.

"I am less likely to want to increase the pool. I think the more you increase the pool, the more teaching you have to do and you have to keep a core going. It's better if we can tighten up but it’s something to be assessed," the Barangay Ginebra coach added.

Still, Cone isn't closing the door for good, saying Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and all the higher-ups involved will sit down by the end of the year to assess their one-year run.

"Everything’s going to be assessed, the coaching staff [and] the players by yearend. But it doesn’t mean we don’t make a tweak here and there, personnel-wise, system-wise," he said.

"We can very easily make a tweak, anything that can make us better moving forward."

—JMB, GMA Integrated News