Cone banking on familiarity with Gilas additions
At A Glance
- Gilas Pilipinas interim head coach Tim Cone expressed his confidence that the five new players integrated to the national team pool for the Asian Games can catch up despite the short notice and with roughly only a week left before its first game.
Gilas Pilipinas interim head coach Tim Cone expressed his confidence that the five new players integrated to the national team pool for the Asian Games can catch up despite the short notice and with roughly only a week left before its first game.
It helps that the multi-titled mentor was already familiar with how his new personnel – Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, Arvin Tolentino, CJ Perez and Kevin Alas – play, having been able to coach against them in the PBA.
Some of the players, at some point in the past, had already played under Cone – a familiarity the veteran mentor is banking on as Gilas crams in the final stretch of preparations and with the inclusion of Jason Perkins, Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo and Mo Tautuaa still up in the air.
“We took Ross and Lassiter because they had a bit of a feel for us in the SEA Games. We didn’t use the Triangle System as much back in the SEA Games, but we’re incorporating it more now, so that’s new to them. However, the defensive philosophy, system, and techniques are very familiar to them,” Cone said of Ross and Lassiter who was part of the 2019 SEA Games team Cone handled.
Cone was also part of the coaching staff of former Gilas coach Chot Reyes in the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia that also included Lassiter and Ross, and the 2023 FIBA World Cup where Perez was a part of.
Of all the players called up, there’s no one more familiar to Cone’s system than Tolentino who spent his first few years in the PBA as part of Ginebra.
“Arvin has experience with the Triangle; he knows it. It’s just more of a refresher for him, so he should be able to fit in seamlessly,” Cone said of Tolentino who he shared two PBA titles together before the sweet-shooting forward was traded to NorthPort.
Of the five, only Alas had no experience playing under Cone but that hardly bothered the national team mentor, knowing full well the pedigree of the NLEX combo guard.
“It might be a bit more challenging for Kevin, but the thing about Kevin Alas is that he’s a coach’s son. A coach’s son sees the game really well, picks up things quickly, so I’m not concerned about Kevin,” he said of Alas, son of former PBA coach Louie Alas.