The PBA offseason means time to give back back to the community.
With Gilas Pilipinas yet to jumpstart their training camp for the FIBA World Cup, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach Tim Cone used the spare time to give back to the community.
The concurrent Gilas assistant coach, with World Balance and Gatorade, held a basketball camp at the San Francisco court in Biñan, Laguna over the weekend.
Cone's wife, Cristina, uploaded on Instagram some snapshots of the event.
The coach's son, Trevor, also joined the event and taught the kids the rudiments of the game he probably learned from arguably the best coach in the PBA.
The camp was graced by PBA MVP Scottie Thompson, who was also said to be part of the national team pool preparing for the World Cup, which is dubbed by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas chairman emeritus Manny Pangilinan as the new “Thrilla in Manila.”
Reports say Cone and Thompson will not join Ginebra in the PBA on Tour as Gilas is expected to hold training camps abroad in the hope of turning in a performance to remember in front of the home crowd. Thompson is indeed not listed in Ginebra's roster for the preseason games.
Gilas is grouped with Italy, Dominican Republic, and Angola. Most experts predict Gilas moving on to the second round of the tournament.
In a previous interview, though, coach Chot Reyes said he was under no illusion this would be an easy path for the squad.
(GM)