Cone rues absence of ‘best players’ as Gilas suffers worst Asian Games finish

MANILA, Philippines – Tim Cone lamented the circumstances that prevented Gilas Pilipinas from forming a more formidable team as it crashed to its worst finish in Asian Games history.

Seeking to defend the gold medal it won in 2023, the Philippines instead ended up failing to reach the quarterfinals after a 105-61 drubbing from China in its final group stage game in Nagoya, Japan, on Monday, September 14.

The all-PBA squad finished with a 1-2 record in Group C, missing out on the quarterfinals as one of the two best third-place teams due to its inferior -17 point differential, behind Group B’s Jordan (-5) and Group A’s Saudi Arabia (-11). 

Unable to make the last eight, the Nationals suffered a worse finish than its seventh-place showing in the 2014 edition. 

“Deeply disappointed we couldn’t get to the quarters. But it’s a reminder for us that if we don’t or can’t bring our best players to these international events, we won’t excel,” Cone said through a message exchange.

“We brought some really good players, but we didn’t bring our best players.” 

Gilas Pilipinas missed the services of Japan B. League standouts Kai Sotto, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Quentin Millora-Brown, and Mike Phillips, and Korean Basketball League stalwarts Kevin Quiambao and Carl Tamayo — all of whom are key players in FIBA competitions.

Since the Asian Games is not a part of the FIBA calendar, clubs in Japan and Korea are not required to release their players.

The Nationals also played without a naturalized player, with Justin Brownlee and Bennie Boatwright unable to make the cut.

Brownlee has yet to fully recover from injuries that kept him out of national team action for the past two months, while Boatwright failed to make it in time for the Asian Games as his naturalization only lapsed into law earlier this September.

PBA stars who represent the country in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers were also not around, with the likes of Scottie Thompson, CJ Perez, Juan Gomez de Liaño, Chris Newsome, and Troy Rosario not part of the Asian Games crew. 

June Mar Fajardo, meanwhile, already retired from the national team after the fourth window of the Asian Qualifiers in August. 

“It would have been nice to have Kai and AJ and Q and Mike Philips and Dwight and KQ and Carl and the like, but they weren’t permitted from their mother teams,” said Cone. 

“We would have liked Justin and Bennie — or even Jordan Clarkson — but none were available, and it’s not easy an easy process to naturalize players like it is in other countries. Even June Mar would have made an impact.” 

Cone, though, tipped his hat to the players who chose to don the national colors with Gilas Pilipinas’ main guys unable to see action.

A last-minute inclusion, Calvin Oftana showed the way for the 12-man crew, which also included Robert Bolick, Sedrick Barefield, RJ Abarrientos, Zavier Lucero, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Adrian Nocum, Don Trollano, Justine Baltazar, Justin Arana, Jerrick Ahanmisi, and Brandon Bates. 

“The guys we had played their hearts out. We were just oversized by the other teams. But they were a great group of guys who loved playing for their country,” said Cone. 

“It wasn’t their fault that we couldn’t add size to their roster to help them out. They gave their all.” – Rappler.com