Cone laments not having ‘best players’ in failed Asiad title defense

Although getting the full support from the PBA, with the teams lending their superstars to the national team, Gilas struggled to find answers to the size of the opposing teams in the continental showpiece.

“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,” said Cone after the Nationals suffered a 61-105 defeat against China, prematurely ending their title defense.

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

Gilas ended with its worst finish at ninth in Asian Games history and Cone could only wonder how much that outcome could have changed if he was able to bring in his Gilas team from the FIBA qualifying windows.

“It would have been nice to have Kai (Sotto) and AJ (Edu), and Q (Quentin Millora-Brown), and Mike Philips, and Dwight (Ramos), and KQ (Kevin Quiambao), and Carl (Tamayo), and the likes. But they weren’t permitted from their mother teams,” the veteran coach lamented.

Nothing against the crew who stood up to the challenge of carrying the flag in the Asian Games, but the team certainly lacked the size and shooting — two factors that makes a team competitive on the international stage.

It also didn’t help that Gilas was forced to place all-Filipino after having both Justin Brownlee and Ange Kouame in the last edition where the Nationals won the gold.

This time, Brownlee and Kouame weren’t available due to injuries and overseas commitments, respectively while naturalized player candidate Bennie Boatwright did not make it in time for the Asian Games deadline.

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