Issue still unresolved
Tim Cone said Gilas Pilipinas had hoped to bring its regular national team core to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games but was prevented from doing so after Japanese and South Korean clubs refused to release their Filipino players for the tournament.
The national coach explained during a Senate hearing Thursday that the Philippines had little choice but to field a different lineup in its failed defense of the men’s basketball gold medal it won in Hangzhou, China, in 2023.
“We actually wanted to bring the same core,” Cone said.
The difference, he explained, was that the Asian Games is not sanctioned by the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), unlike the World Cup qualifiers, where clubs are required to release eligible players for national team duty.
“But again, the Asian Games and the Southeast Asian Games are not Fiba-sponsored tournaments. So they are no longer forced to release those players,” Cone said.
That difference left Gilas without key players such as Kai Sotto, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Kevin Quiambao and Carl Tamayo, who had been part of the national team’s Fiba campaign.
Cone pointed out what he saw as an inconsistency in how overseas clubs approached the Asian Games.
“What was interesting is that Japan allowed their players to play in the Asian Games and Korea allowed their Korean players to represent their country and play in the Asian Games,” he said.
“But they would not allow our Filipino players playing abroad to represent the country in the Asian Games.”
Cone said the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), the country’s basketball federation, sought permission well ahead of the competition.
The situation in South Korea initially appeared more promising, with Quiambao and Tamayo seemingly available before their clubs reversed course.
“But then two weeks before the start of our preparation, they said no, they could not play anymore. And we don’t have control because they’re under contract with those teams,” Cone said, adding the players themselves were willing to represent the Philippines.
“They all wanted to play in the Asian Games, but were disallowed to play.”
The Asian Games team was made up of players from the PBA, which halted its Governors’ Cup for an extended period to help the national program.
That Gilas squad finished ninth in the 12-team tournament, losing to Bahrain, 89-85, beating Kazakhstan, 109-78, and suffering a 105-61 defeat to China on Sept. 14 that ended its title defense in the group stage.
Player availability has been a recurring problem for Gilas Pilipinas.
“If you noticed in 2023, the core of the team from the World Cup was there [in the Asian Games] but [Gilas] was still missing the players who were playing abroad,” Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Erika Dy said. “It’s still the issue this Asian Games; they’re the same players who weren’t available.”
“We have to develop some kind of mechanism to get players released to come to these games,” Cone said. “Until we find a mechanism that forces teams to allow us to grab these players, we’ll be in the same situation four years from now.”
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