Cone gives Gilas PH standouts freedom to operate
Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone may be structured when it comes to running things at Barangay Ginebra.
When it comes to Gilas Pilipinas, however, the national coach cuts his players some slack.
“Now, it’s on the players. We’ve done what we can as the staff and now it’s on the players to go out there and really play their game,” said Cone almost 12 hours before the team opened its Fiba Asia Cup bid vs. Chinese Taipei.
“That’s the point of it. We don’t want to make it so restricted for them that they don’t play their natural game. These guys are talented players so we have to let them play with their flow and give them structure when we can.”
The Filipinos and the Taiwanese opened their bid early Wednesday morning (3 a.m. Manila time) and Cone allowed his standouts as much leeway as he gave them in a recent tuneup game against the Macau Black Bears.
Brownlee, for example, was on a shooting spree, taking 14 shots from the field en route to a monster double-double of 32 points and 15 rebounds that spearheaded the Filipinos’ 103-98 victory.
Brownlee is used to Cone letting his players loose once in a while, having been the Grand Slam mentor’s go-to import for quite a long time now. But even young guys like Kevin Quiambao, a UAAP champion who has yet to play a pro game, has found some freedom to operate within Cone’s system.
He took seven shots, made five and finished with 14 points.
The same can be said for AJ Edu, who was given the green light as Gilas played minus the services of Kai Sotto, and he finished with 15 points.
“That’s the key about a national team. You let national team players play their own game. Hopefully, that’s what we achieve a little bit but you never really know,” Cone said.
Gilas Pilipinas entered the game against Chinese Taipei early this morning having lost to the Taiwanese the last time out, and Cone feels that the opposing squad hasn’t gotten the billing they deserve.
“I think the tournament has really underrated them,” he said.
Chinese Taipei dropped a spot in the list of favorites to win the continental crown—from 11th to 12th. The Philippines, meanwhile was listed as the sixth pick for the title.
