“I only had one year there (in the Philippines) but there’s no one I had more respect for in the game of basketball in the Philippines than Tim Cone,” Goorjian told reporters during a training camp organized by the East Asia Super League at the Hoops Dome in Lapu Lapu City on Saturday, March 9.

Goorjian, who also coached the Bay Area Dragons in the PBA last year, faced off with the new Gilas coach in the Commissioner’s Cup finals where his Dragons squad yielded to Cone’s Barangay Ginebra in a grueling seven-game series. 

Aside from noting Cone’s appointment as a good move, the legendary Australian mentor also commended the inclusion of “new, young exciting players” like Kai Sotto and Kevin Quiambao. 

“And I think Tim Cone’s a perfect coach for the future of Philippine basketball,” said Goorjian. “He’s been there. He knows the system. He knows the players. He’s respected and he’s smart, knowledgeable.”

During Cone’s journey from interim to permanent head coach, he had already led Gilas to the Asian Games gold medal, and carded two convincing wins during the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.

The Philippines blew out Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei by 30 and 53 points, respectively, last February.

As Goorjian gears up for another Olympic run, his fourth, he looks to improve on the bronze-medal finish his team achieved in the 2021 edition in Tokyo.

The team will now be led by NBA rising stars Josh Giddey, Duop Reath, Dyson Daniels, Josh Green, as well as Chiba Jets standout Xavier Cooks.

“I’m looking forward to these Olympics,” said Goorjian. “This is for me, I think I’ve got a nice base here. And I think we’ve got a good team, and we’re expecting a good performance in Paris.” 

“And then I think it’s gonna get stronger, because our basketball is getting stronger, we’re producing better players, and we’re introducing better players,” he continued. 

“So that bronze-medal team got to hear we’ve gone through change, but I think the ceiling of this new young group is even higher.” 

Gilas, on the other hand, will have its hands full when it attempts to secure a slot in the Olympics for the first time since 1972 through the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia.

It will have to hurdle Georgia and the hosts in the group stage before looking to face the winners in the other bracket, which is comprised of Brazil, Cameroon, and Montenegro. — Rappler.com

The Nationals gained ground in that quest as it improved one spot in the latest FIBA world rankings, climbing from 38th to 37th place.

Fresh from a sweep of the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers where it clobbered Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei by a combined 83 points, the Philippines leapfrogged African nation Nigeria for the 37th spot.

Despite the rise, Gilas Pilipinas still remained the eighth-highest ranked team in Asia-Oceania behind No. 5 Australia, No. 21 New Zealand, No. 26 Japan, No. 27 Iran, No. 28 Lebanon, No. 29 China, and No. 32 Jordan.

Only Australia made a movement after ceding the fourth spot to Serbia as the rest stayed at their respective spots.

World No. 1 USA, No. 2 Spain, and No. 3 Germany kept their places, while Latvia enjoyed the biggest jump among the top 10 teams, improving from No. 8 to No. 6 by surpassing Americas powerhouses Canada and Argentina.

Canada and Argentina fell to No. 7 and 8, respectively, followed by No. 9 France and No. 10 Lithuania to round out the top 10.

The Latvians’ ascent spells trouble for the Filipinos ahead of their clash in the Riga, Latvia leg of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in July.

Aside from Latvia, the Philippines will also face Georgia, which remained at No. 23. – Rappler.com

After a stellar sweep of the first FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers window, head coach Tim Cone and the Nationals turn their focus on the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, where they face an uphill climb against two top 25 teams.

The Philippines has its work cut out for it as it battles world No. 8 Latvia and No. 23 Georgia in the group stage of its OQT leg set in Riga, Latvia, in July.

And to gear up for their quest to qualify for the Paris Games, Cone and his crew brace for possible tuneup games against a couple of European squads.

“We’ve got some invitations from Lithuania, from Slovenia, and the Czech Republic. We’re going to work our way through those and see what we can do,” said Cone.

The Nationals are on a high after a pair of blowout wins against Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei to kick off their Asia Cup Qualifiers campaign.

Drubbing Hong Kong by 30 points on the road and crushing Chinese Taipei by 53 points at home, the Philippines secured the top spot in Group B, which includes New Zealand, with a whopping 83-point win margin.

Cone, though, knows the barometer has been raised significantly higher considering the caliber of foes that stand in the Philippines’ way in the OQT.

Latvia is coming off a stunning win over basketball powerhouse Spain to sweep the first window of the FIBA EuroBasket Qualifiers.

According to FIBA records, Latvia has won 23 of its last 26 games, making it the hottest national team in the world.

Georgia, despite a winless start in the EuroBasket Qualifiers, remains a major threat as it boasts of two NBA players in Goga Bitadze of the Orlando Magic and Sandro Mamukelashvili of the San Antonio Spurs.

“This 2-0 start is great, but that is a little baby step on the way. We need to make a lot more bigger strides as we go as the next game we play is Latvia, which is top eight,” said Cone.

“We got Latvia and Georgia coming up. So can we get to that level?”

Gilas Pilipinas also has to deal with a short preparation time, with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas striking a deal with the PBA, UAAP, and the Japan B. League to allow the players to practice for 10 days before the OQT.

“So that might be 10 days here, Inspire camp every day, or maybe it is going out and trying to find some friendlies against European teams so we can get a feel with the way they play,” said Cone.

“We have not all figured that out yet but we are in the midst of figuring it out.” – Rappler.com

Standing faithfully by Gilas Pilipinas during a particularly frustrating two-year stretch that saw more losses than triumphs, Filipino fans have yearned for a national team they could rally behind in earnest.

They were given a taste of it when Gilas ended six decades of futility in the Asian Games by bringing home the gold last year. Fans were served more than their just desserts in the February FIBA Asia Cup qualifying window when Gilas won both their games by an average margin of 41.5 points.

The common denominator? The legendary coach Tim Cone.

Of course, there are still naysayers who point out that Hong Kong is not exactly an elite Asian team and Chinese Taipei was without a naturalized player, never mind that they kept the scoreline close against New Zealand in their previous game. All valid observations.

But these can be negated by the fact that this latest iteration of Gilas has had roughly a week to prepare and is still at the getting-to-know-you and the system stage. But the way they have adapted to the system that Cone has slowly instilled should give even the most stone-cold skeptics hope that the team just might turn out to be special.

There have also been those who have asserted that it is immaterial to compare the Cone-mentored squad to its World Cup predecessor, that it is high time to already move on and desist from bringing up the ghosts of Gilas past.

But the past serves as the baseline from which the present can be built on.

There are valuable lessons that can be learned and unwarranted drama that can be discarded if history is not relegated to irrelevance.

And so we look back at and take stock of how far the team has gone since the FIBA World Cup to help us understand how far the team can still go in its goal to make the Olympics, if not this year in Paris then in 2028 in Los Angeles.

Unlocking full potential

One standout characteristic of Gilas Pilipinas under Cone is that there is a certain fluidity in the movement of the players that allows the game to flow more smoothly. The players know where they need to be and where the ball has to be. It was true in the Asian Games. It remains true in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.

During the FIBA World Cup, Jordan Clarkson was allowed by the coaching staff to dominate the ball, attempting at least 21 shots per game. There were instances when everyone else around him appeared to just wait to see what he would do and if his shots would go in.

Kai Sotto had less than four shot attempts per outing. Clarkson ended up with an impressive average of 26 points in five games. The only other player to average in double figures was Dwight Ramos with 13.2 points.

Justin Browlee led Gilas in scoring with 21 points in each of the two games in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers. But he got plenty of help. Four others also normed double figures.

Sotto was finally given his due touches and delivered with 15.5 points per game. Ramos contributed 10.5 points. Kevin Quiambao, despite being the only collegiate player in the roster, showed he could play with the big boys by pumping in 12.5 points per showing. Calvin Oftana almost joined the double digit club with nine points per game.

The wide distribution of wealth can be attributed to a number of factors.

Cone made it part of the design to allow Sotto the space to establish his presence in the low block, something that was missing from the World Cup where the bigs were not made integral components of the offense and none of them took more than five attempts per game.

Finally given the blessing of a coach who believed in him, the “Kaiju” was unleashed and produced the numbers – 12.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, and 3 assists.

Sotto asserting himself against the Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei frontliners led to good things – the floor opened up for incursions to the basket, with Sotto as the willing passer, and the outside was freed up for the Gilas gunners, resulting in a respectable 39% shooting clip from three.

Better ball movement

The triangle became the framework from which ball movement emanated and became one of the main weapons of Gilas Pilipinas. Rarely was there any display of hero ball or one-on-one isolation where one player dribbled the shot clock away while the rest of the team remained frozen from action.

In its place were the wings driving to test the opposing team’s defense then kicking out to the open shooter or the high post getting the ball to move it around until the open man was found.

This was evidenced by the team dishing out an impressive 31.5 assists in the qualifiers. Scottie Thompson led the way for Gilas with nine assists per game. During the World Cup, Gilas only averaged 16 assists per game.

Cone clearly defined his expectation from each player. Chris Newsome, a prolific scorer with Meralco Bolts, accepted his task as the primary defensive stopper for Gilas.

Chinese Taipei star Cheng Liu sizzled in their previous game against New Zealand where he scored 20 points on 8/16 shooting. After sinking two early threes against Gilas, Liu ended up making a total of just five shots from 14 attempts, largely because of the relentless pressure from Newsome.

Carl Tamayo dropped 11 points and hauled down six boards against Chinese Taipei. Tamayo provides Gilas with a versatile big man, Cone’s own version of Ranidel de Ocampo, who is also the team’s tough guy and enforcer.

Tamayo and Quiambao were the “Bruise Brothers” of the NU Bullpups when the two were in high school. It is not far-fetched that they will relive this role in Gilas uniforms.

Bigger tests ahead

All these positives still beg the question: Can Gilas Pilipinas look just as good when they face bigger teams like New Zealand in the next window and world caliber squads in the Paris Olympic qualifiers?

Cone will be the first to admit that there is still so much work to be done. He has always been known to keep himself grounded even as his sights are always lasered towards the bigger target.

One thing going for Cone is that he is also fully aware that the team holds so much promise.

Brownlee has not fully shaken off the rust from his forced layoff. Sotto has had four straight double-doubles (two in the Japan B. League, two in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers) and is slowly beginning to understand what it takes to be a dominant big man.

AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo have yet to join the team. The entire squad still has to learn to play together and for each other. Cone knows they eventually will.

Gilas Pilipinas can still get better. It will become better. – Rappler.com

Cone gave Sotto rave reviews after the 7-foot-3 big man turned in a pair of double-double performances to help the Filipinos sweep the first window with back-to-back blowout victories over Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei.

“He is going to absolutely dominate Asia. I’ve always felt that. If you get him in the right spots, he can absolutely dominate Asia,” said Cone.

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Sotto, the youngest in the team at 21 years old, shone as he stepped up in the absence of injured big men June Mar Fajardo (calf) and AJ Edu (knee).

He finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks in an emphatic 106-53 home drubbing of visiting Chinese Taipei at the PhilSports Arena on Sunday, February 25.

It was an impressive follow-up to his 13-point, 15-rebound, 2-block outing in the Philippines’ 94-64 road rout of Hong Kong last February 22.

Cone said the goal is to aid Sotto – who plays professionally for the Yokohama B-Corsairs in the Japan B. League – in his bid to reach greater heights.

“For him, the next part is to get up to the European level and the NBA level. We’re hoping that we could help him get into that level,” said Cone.

“There may be a time where we might lose Kai, he may not be able to join windows because he might be in the NBA. And we’ll be very, very proud of that.”

A cornerstone of the program Cone has mapped out for the next four years, Sotto said his confidence is at “sky-high” knowing that the veteran mentor has huge plans for him.

That brimming confidence has translated into his fine play.

“Even if he does not tell me personally, I know that coach Tim has a lot of trust in me and I have a lot of trust in him as well,” said Sotto. – Rappler.com

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial on Monday, February 26, said Malonzo apologized to the league and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) after he got caught on video being pummeled by an unidentified man in a restaurant.

“We talked and he said, it was a miscommunication and he did not do well. ‘[I] apologize to you, to the PBA, to the Ginebra fans, to Gilas, and SBP,'” said Marcial in a mix of Filipino and English.

The video surfaced after Malonzo sat out the Philippines’ 106-53 romp of visiting Chinese Taipei at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City on Sunday, February 25, that allowed the Filipinos to sweep the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

In the video, Malonzo – who appeared disoriented – absorbed a barrage of punches from a shorter man before he got floored with a head shot.

Gilas head coach Tim Cone on Sunday said Malonzo missed action after falling ill following their away game in Hong Kong last Thursday, February 22.

Malonzo finished with 11 points in their 94-64 demolition of Hong Kong. – Rappler.com

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone said Brownlee has received offers from overseas teams as the beloved naturalized player ponders his next career move after he and the Nationals swept the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

It will take months before Brownlee sets foot in the PBA again, with the league staging the Philippine Cup next starting on February 28.

“There are offers to go play overseas since it is All-Filipino. We’re perfectly fine with that,” said Cone on Sunday, February 25, after the Philippines’ 106-53 rout of visiting Chinese Taipei.

“We’re all for him going out, staying in shape.”

Going overseas should be an ideal move for Brownlee as he looks to regain his old form after being away from competitive action for four months – a result of failing a doping test in the Asian Games in October.

Brownlee is no stranger to playing in other foreign leagues in between his Ginebra stints as he suited up for Lebanese club Al Riyadi in 2019 and UAE’s Al Sharjah in 2021.

Not only would Brownlee be in tiptop shape once the PBA holds another import-flavored conference, he would also be in deadlier form for the Riga, Latvia leg of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in July.

Fearsome foes await in the OQT, with Brownlee and world No. 38 Philippines set to battle No. 8 Latvia and No. 23 Georgia.

“He will definitely be back for us at Ginebra in the next conference, after the All-Filipino. He is already locked in for that. So we’ll see him here,” said Cone.

“But in the meantime, he is looking at offers and he’ll probably end up playing somewhere for a while.”

Despite seeing his career temporarily derailed for one-third of a year, Brownlee looked like he hardly lost a step as he steered the Philippines to a pair of blowout wins in the first window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers.

Brownlee delivered 26 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks against Chinese Taipei – an impressive follow-up performance to his 16-point, 7-rebound, 7-assists, 3-steal effort in a 94-64 romp of Hong Kong.

No wonder teams are calling. – Rappler.com

Head coach Tim Cone said Malonzo fell ill after the Filipinos’ 30-point road win against Hong Kong, leaving the team with only 10 players in their homestand against the visiting Taiwanese at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

Cone bared Justin Brownlee also felt under the weather following their four-day trip in Hong Kong.

“Actually, [Jamie] and Justin were both sick coming home. We got home from Hong Kong, they both got sick. We were really afraid that neither of them would play, but Justin kind of bounced back,” said Cone.

“Jamie, we contemplated bringing him to the hospital, he’s that down and out. Hopefully, he’ll bounce back and get better. We sent our doctors to him and put him on IV.”

Aside from Malonzo, the Nationals also played without injured big men June Mar Fajardo (calf) and AJ Edu (knee).

National team veteran Japeth Aguilar came in to help fill the gaping hole in the middle for the squad.

Even with a shorthanded roster, though, the Philippines dominated and defended its turf with conviction, cruising to a 53-point victory.

Brownlee showed the way for the Filipinos with 26 points on top of 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks.

Cone said he and his staff need to do a better job in making sure that the players are healthy as they play more road games in the future, with the Riga, Latvia leg of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament coming up in July.

“I think maybe some of the guys just got severely dehydrated on the trip and we didn’t hydrate well enough. I’ve got to be more cognizant of that and make sure that guys are doing that better,” said Cone.

“That’s really on us to make sure that doesn’t happen. Viruses are all over the place so you never know when someone’s going to pick something up.”

With the first window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers coming to a close, the players return to their mother teams in their respective leagues before they reunite for a chance to qualify for the Paris Games. – Rappler.com

Then called Batang Gilas in the late 2010s, the national team’s under-18 pool featured extremely promising stalwarts clearly holding the keys to the future and got fans and coaches salivating at the idea of what would come next.

Fast forward to the present, and the world has since seen glimpses of what highs Gilas’ next few years truly hold as talented big men Kai Sotto, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, and AJ Edu continue to feature prominently in the national team’s seniors ranks.

Now that they’ve emerged as key figures in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, Sotto fondly looked back on how far their skills and chemistry have gone since their first forays into international competitions.

“I feel like we’ve already shared a really good bond ever since we were younger. It really helps us, when we get to the court, we no longer have a feeling-out process,” he said after Gilas destroyed Chinese Taipei, 106-53, on home turf at the PhilSports Arena on Sunday, February 25.

“We already have a lot of trust in one another. Carl, AJ, KQ, and I have been together from Batang Gilas until now, so I’m very happy that our progress has continued.”

True enough, the progress has been continuous, and to summarize in one word, stratospheric.

Sotto, coming off stops in the Australian National Basketball League and the NBA Summer League, is now honing his craft further in his second season in the Japan B. League alongside Edu, who unfortunately has been sidelined this Gilas window due to injury.

Tamayo, a UAAP champion with the UP Maroons, already has hardware to show in the pro league after winning a B. League title in just his rookie season with the Ryukyu Golden Kings before both sides mutually parted ways.

Quiambao, meanwhile, has evolved to history-making levels while still at the college level, catapulting himself to MVP status in the UAAP and leading the La Salle Green Archers to their first championship in seven years.

To top it all off, not a single person in that quartet has turned 25.

Fans continue to closely watch just how much farther this group will go in the near future, with imposing expectations matching their ever-growing structures.

Sotto, however, is just taking each day in stride. He always has and always will.

“I’m just so happy for everybody who contributed from the start until now,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to the things we will continue to do in the future.” – Rappler.com

And he showed that through his fine play as he steered Gilas Pilipinas to a 106-53 home rout of Chinese Taipei on Sunday, February 25, that allowed the Filipinos to sweep the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

The beloved naturalized player finished with team-highs of 26 points and 13 rebounds on top 5 assists and 2 blocks for a rousing homecoming performance at the jam-packed PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

“I missed it. I missed the fans more than anything. I just missed seeing their smiles and just being able to make them cheer and just seeing their passion for the game,” Brownlee said.

Brownlee last played in the Philippines in April when he and Barangay Ginebra bowed to TNT in the PBA Governors’ Cup finals last season.

The Gin Kings tapped Brownlee for what would have been his 11th straight import conference with the franchise, but he missed PBA action for the first time since 2016 after he failed a doping test in the Asian Games in October.

Brownlee opted to serve a voluntary suspension that started in November before FIBA gave the go signal for his return this February.

Eager to repay the fans’ love as they waited four months for his hardcourt comeback, Brownlee erupted for 11 points in the opening quarter to set the tone in the 53-point blowout.

“They definitely came in with some energy and it made me want to be more aggressive. Just to hear that crowd roar, just to put a smile on their face or make them cheer and be happy,” he said.

And it is not just on the court where fans invigorated Brownlee but also off it.

“I got to be honest, I was a little down coming here, but coming here and seeing these fans and stuff like that, showing great support, it definitely has cheered me up,” said Brownlee.

“I’m on that high again as far as being excited. It just feels great.” – Rappler.com

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