Titles and medals sound nice, but the chase thrills Cone more

Twenty-five Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) titles, a pair of triple crown sweeps, and several international gold medals later, Tim Cone is still about the chase.

“Everybody talks about accomplishments. I don’t think about accomplishments at all. It’s not what thrills me,” he told the Inquirer in a candid chat shortly after receiving his fourth PBA Press Corps Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan Coach of the Year award recently.

“What gets me up in the morning is not the idea of winning championships or a gold medal. What does, literally, is the day-to-day,” he went on. “Just going to the practices, interacting with the players, putting a game plan together—that’s my thrill.”

Cone, who owns the most number of championships in Asia’s pioneering pro league, won the citation after steering crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra past the visiting Bay Area to the Commissioner’s Cup after a grueling series that went the full seven-game distance.

He was also feted barely a month after leading the PBA standouts-laden National Team to its first Asian Games basketball gold in 61 years.

It was during the revelries of that golden romp, Cone shared, that people were able to truly see how he is when it comes to milestones.

“When we won the gold medal, we were walking around the locker room and everybody was jumping. Players were coming up to me, telling me ‘Hey coach, smile, man! We just won the gold medal!’ And I was like, ‘I’m not a celebrator.’”

“I was thrilled for them that they can celebrate and everything. But to me, it was just the result of all the work that we did leading up to that. And that’s what thrills me—all the work that led up to that,” he said.

Cone was hardly the merrymaker in his last three noteworthy victories. He was the first to console TNT players after Ginebra’s Philippine Cup win in the bubble, and was busy chatting with Dragons coach Brian Goorjian than celebrating with his charges during the Commissioner’s Cup clincher at Philippine Arena.

He was also busy taking a video of the National Five when the Philippines won over Jordan in Hangzhou, China.

Cone said that he is just the same even at the heels of a defeat.

“One of my favorite expressions, you know, is take the trophy and put it up on the cupboard, and then turn around and get back to work. That’s some John Maxwell stuff. Another day tomorrow,” he added.

And that same yearning to work hard will mean more championships for sure. When he intends to truly celebrate is the thing worth waiting for. INQ