MANILA, Philippines: Gilas Pilipinas new coach Tim Cone knows winning immediately in the FIBA tournament requires the presence of some veteran players, which was the reason behind the inclusion of many-time national team member June Mar Fajardo, and his San Miguel teammate CJ Perez, along with Barangay Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson and Jamie Malonzo.
Outside naturalized player Justin Brownlee, Fajardo and Newsome are the oldest in the latest Gilas iteration at 33 years old. But as far as international tournaments are concerned, the 6-foot-10 Fajardo has served the longest at Gilas, since being part of the team that first captured the silver medal in the FIBA Asia Cup in Manila in 2013.
The “Kraken” has since played in three FIBA World Cups, starting in 2014 in Seville, Spain, as well as in 2019 (China) as well as 2023 in Manila.
“We wanted the group that’s both veteran and young. One thing that helped in my career, you develop your team through young players. they improve and get better. But if you want to win now, you win with the veterans, so we have a veteran group and we have a young group,” Cone explained during his recent guesting at former PBA commissioner Noli Eala’s sports program Power and Play.
The American mentor said Fajardo and Co., having the vast international experience will show the way for the younger group that includes Japan B.League Asian imports Kai Sotto, AJ Edu and Carl Tamayo as well as UAAP Season 86 Most Valuable Player Kevin Quiambao of champion La Salle.
“The veteran shows the way to the young group. We try to be as good as we can be right now and still have room for growth,” he said.
“The young, like Carl, Kai Sotto, Kevin Quiambao, then you got the veterans June Mar, Scottie (Thompson), Chris Newsome and have veteran naturalized player in Justin Brownlee. That’s a mix that’s very important for us.”
Cone added that versatility is also taken in consideration, knowing that Gilas will face teams in FIBA tournaments with different strengths.
Still at the core of this latest Gilas squad is its ability to defend, a hallmark of every team Cone has handled.
In fact, the 66-year-old’s PBA coaching track record speaks for itself, being the all-time winningest coach today with 25 league titles, plus, more importantly, steering the Philippines back to the Asian Games basketball throne after winning the 2023 men’s cage crown in Hangzhou, China.
“I’m a defensive first coach. We want to have guys who are defensive-minded, 2-way type of players,” shared the concurrent Ginebra coach.
“We felt with June Mar, Kai and AJ, we fill out the size, around 6-11 to 7-feet. But we also want versatility because the other thing is you look positionally. We still want to be quick, up and down if we need to be,” explained the Gilas mentor.
Gilas is slated to start training camp this Thursday, February at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna in preparation for the first window of the FIBA Asia Qualifiers 2025.
The national squad kicks off the qualifiers by facing Hong Kong on February 22 at the Tsuen Wan Stadium, before taking on Taiwani on February 25 at the Philsports Arena.