Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone repeatedly emphasized that 2024 was a trial year for the national team program.

For one, it was only at the start of the year when he accepted the unforgiving and thankless job of steering the helm for Gilas – a team that will always be under the watchful eyes of this basketball-crazy nation.

At any given result, the Filipino fans could be his greatest supporters or his most vicious critics.

But looking back at the events that transpired for the entire year of Gilas, 2024 hardly looked like a year of experiments and trial and errors.

In just under 10 months since Cone’s appointment as the national team coach, Gilas was finally winning. To be fair, it also did before, with Chot Reyes a decade back in time and with Tab Baldwin just a few years ago.

The difference probably is that, regardless of the outcome of the games, Gilas, for the first time in a while, finally had some sense of direction. And this year’s feats speak for itself.

Cone forms a team, not just a band of great players

Not a few raised their eyebrows when Cone named his pool. A lean 12-man lineup was created with Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos serving as the backups.

It was far from the usual long list of big name players all fighting for their spots on the team. Perhaps the golden conquest of Gilas during the Asian Games in 2023 had helped Cone unlock a trick.

He valued cohesion, familiarity, the shared experiences and accumulated preparations as pillars of the program. He wanted a tight-knit group that would live for one another and die with one another.

And it quickly translated to victories – dominant ones – a 94-64 win over Hong Kong and a 106-53 triumph over Chinese Taipei in the first window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers last February.

But some were still skeptical about Gilas. Even Cone was still tempering expectations. For one, those were teams Gilas was used to beating. That was the case until the Olympic Qualifying Tournament five months after.

Gilas ends drought against European teams

In a shocking yet convincing fashion, Gilas pulled the rug from under Latvia, 89-80, right on its home turf and in front of its own crowd. It was the first win by the PH five against any European team in 64 years.

Justin Brownlee did his usual "Justin Noypi" things, carrying the PH torch with 26 points and nine rebounds while Kai Sotto truly shocked the world this time with 18 points and eight rebounds. 

Also for the first time in history, it was the Europeans who were having trouble with our size with Sotto and June Mar Fajardo throwing their weights around inside the paint

Gilas failed to qualify to the Paris Olympics but managed to go as far as the semis of the OQT after holding its ground against Georgia, 94-96, and Brazil, 60-71.

But it was another feather to Gilas’ cap and certainly a validation to the appointment of Cone.

"Anytime you can get to the international arena and have success, that's a huge feather in your cap. This is a big huge step for us to be able to play a Latvia team at home, and go at them face-to-face, and come out with a win. It's amazing, it's amazing for us,” said Cone.

Gilas cuts Tall Blacks down to size

After its performance in Latvia, the burden was on Gilas to prove that it was far from being a fluke.

And as if ending droughts was becoming a habit for Cone and his wards, the Nationals defeated New Zealand, 93-89, for the first time in five meetings – effectively ending an eight-year dry spell – to prove that the Nationals were the real deal.

It was the coming of age for Sotto who had a Gilas career-high of 19 points while flirting with a triple-double with his 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Gilas ended the year spotless in the Asian qualifiers with a sweep of Hong Kong, 93-54, and becoming one of the best teams in the region after being ranked second in scoring, first in the assist department, and third in field-goal percentage. 

Excitement brewing for Gilas in 2025

It was only the beginning for Gilas but the exploits of 2024 has surely set the bar high for the coming year – especially with the 2025 Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Southeast Asian Games, and the first window of the FIBA 2027 World Cup qualifiers all in the pipeline.

But the Nationals have yet to put all of their pieces yet to the table. AJ Edu has not joined the frontlines of Fajardo and Sotto, and Jamie Malonzo is another exciting player that would add depth to the already deadly wing combination of Brownlee, Calvin Oftana and Dwight Ramos.

“We’re still trying to figure things out, how big the lineup should be, who should be in it and if this coaching staff is the right group to do this and move forward. This is a trial year for us and we’re still trying to fine tune everything that goes on,” Cone said.

If 2024 was only a trial year, then one could only wonder what 2025 will be.