Tim Cone. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Coach Tim Cone said he is well aware of the kind of role the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas offered him to coach the national team.
That job, he said, is merely a stopgap measure for the Southeast Asian Games slated here by the end of the year.
But the Grand Slam mentor and the winningest coach in the PBA doesn’t mind going all the way with mentoring the Philippine quintet.
“What a tremendous honor that would be,” he told reporters on Sunday night.
“I just want to focus on helping what I can, and what I can help in right now is just being the Southeast Asian Games coach,” he said.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas on Monday announced that Cone has accepted its offer to be the Philippine team’s head coach for the SEA Games.
Although Cone said that the initial pitch by the federation was specifically for the upcoming regional meet and not “ to be the head coach later on.”
“This, with me coaching, will give (SBP) time to put their search committee together and find the guy they really want to coach (until), I guess, 2023,” he added.
“I’ve been there, done that. Or actually, I’ve been there and didn’t do that. So if this position goes in, I hope I’ll do it this time,” he added.
Cone called the shots for the national team during the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, where the country bagged the bronze medal.
Tab Baldwin, who was initially offered to reprise his role as Gilas tactician, begged off and is expected to become the program director following the basketball program’s reboot in the wake of a dismal Fiba World Cup performance.
The SBP, in a previous interview with the Inquirer, said that they are confident Cone would accept the offer.
SBP chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan, in another interview, said that the SBP is mulling drastic moves within the program—among them the deployment of a system that covers two World Cups—the one we’ll host here in 2023 and the next in 2027.