Cone keeps ‘open mind’ in makeup of future Gilas squads
Tim Cone has shifted his focus back on preparing Barangay Ginebra for the resumption of the PBA Governors’ Cup next week, with this coming after spending almost a month coaching Gilas Pilipinas to a home sweep of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers before the agony of missing out on a quarterfinals berth in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
“It’s a smooth transition,” Cone told the Inquirer. “It’s not a hard transition. We had a few days off afterwards. Obviously, the other teams are having a more consistent approach to their preparation.”
Cone steered Ginebra to its second tuneup before the PBA returns on Friday as the Gin Kings bowed to NLEX, 107-104, at San Miguel Corporation Sports Complex.
The facility has three courts being used by Ginebra, Magnolia and San Miguel Beer. At the same time, the Beermen were holding their regular practice session while the Hotshots had earlier played the Phoenix Fuel Masters in a 97-96 defeat.
Some of the Asian Games players were in the same place in San Miguel’s Jerrick Ahanmisi and Don Trollano, Magnolia’s Zavier Lucero, NLEX’s Robert Bolick and Ginebra’s RJ Abarrientos.
Some of them made solid Asiad impressions amid the gloomy campaign, which may bode well for the Gilas pool in the future, if Cone and his staff decide to bring them on board for future windows—the two November games in Malaysia and two February matches in Cebu.
“I mean, we’re going to keep an open mind on everything, on how we approach it, how we come up,” Cone said. “But again, it’s more about continuity.”
