A bigger Gilas Pilipinas pool needs longer preparation, says Tim Cone.
With a series of injuries that bugged Gilas Pilipinas in their FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament campaign in Riga, Latvia, the clamor to add more players in the pool grew louder.
But head coach Tim Cone stood firm on a lean men’s national basketball team roster.
“If you have a big pool, you need a longer preparation because you have more people to teach,” the 66-year-old tactician said on One News’ The Big Story.
"I came into this whole program with the understanding that I'm coaching stars. They are the stars of that league and I decided from the very beginning that I didn't want to come in here and cut players, so I didn't want to get a huge pool and cut players.”
Gilas came to the FIBA OQT with only 11 players available, with Barangay Ginebra superstar Scottie Thompson missing out due to back problems.
[ALSO READ: FIBA OQT: Tim Cone explains why Gilas couldn’t bring in RR Pogoy, others to fill Scottie Thompson void]
Malonzo suffered a calf injury that sidelined him for the rest of Barangay Ginebra’ campaign in the Philippine Cup, while AJ Edu is still in recovery from a torn meniscus injury he sustained late last year while playing in the Japan B.League.
Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos were called upon to fill up the big man void, while Dwight Ramos played as point guard.
[ALSO READ: Gilas: Versatility expected to be key, with Scottie Thompson and AJ Edu ruled out of FIBA OQT]
It still worked, as Gilas Pilipinas upset host Latvia and became the winning loser against Georgia. However, the Filipinos' luck ran out in the FIBA OQT semifinals against Brazil.
Kai Sotto was reduced to a spectator role after hurting his rib in the game against Georgia. His loss proved to be too big to surmount.
[ALSO READ: FIBA OQT: Tim Cone says injured Kai Sotto’s absence big loss as Gilas succumbs to Brazil in semis]
All in all, Gilas returned with 10 healthy bodies. Kai Sotto said it would take one to two weeks for him to be okay.
“There's a second reason, it's that we don't have a long preparation time for each tournament. That was our agreement with the leagues. That if we're gonna get these players, then we have to shorten our preparation. If we want a long preparation, these players will not be available to us. If you have a big pool, you need a longer preparation because you have more people to teach.”
Looking back, the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel head coach was quick to learn that in short tournaments like the FIBA OQT, making the right decision as quickly as possible and playing your best basketball every game is the key.
“We look back on it and you think, we could've done this, we could've done that. So many things we could've done and the problem in this tournament is that you don't have a second chance and that's one of the things we talked about. You gotta do it right the first time.”
“You gotta be at your best every night and we just had a really really bad quarter where we just kind of all panicked together, me included, and we saw it slip away and we could just never recover.”