FILE–NBA head coach Erik Spoelstra (left) with Tim Cone watching a game during the 2014 NBA Summer League. –NBA TV PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra thinks Tim Cone, the most accomplished mentor in the Philippine Basketball Association, still has a lot in store in the future despite his already long list of accolades.
“I mean, he (Cone) has won 24 championships,” Spoelstra said in an interview with Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “He’s an absolute legend over there, and he’s still young as a coach. So he could still go for another 20 years. There’s no telling where he’ll end up at that point.”
Spoelstra has been at courtside watching the Heat’s Summer League team where Cone is part of the coaching staff headed by Malik Allen.
The two have become good friends since Spoelstra’s visit to the Philippines in 2009.
And as most friends do, they kept raving about each other.
‘ALMOST GOD LIKE’
Cone can’t wait for Spoelstra, who also serves as an assistant to Steve Kerr at USA Basketball, to come back to the Philippines for the 2023 Fiba World Cup where Manila is one of the hosts.
“It’s hard to imagine,” said Cone on the kind of reception Spoelstra will receive from Filipino fans. “It’s just truly hard to imagine. I don’t want to use the term god-like, but it’s almost like that.”
“That was the big thing when I came over here, people found out I was coming to work with an NBA Summer League team and were like, ‘Wow, that’s great.’ And then they found out it was the Miami Heat and Spo, and it just exploded. He’s going to have a hard time walking the streets and going around. He’s going to have a hard time.”
The 64-year-old Cone, who led three different PBA franchises to multiple championships, also spoke about what seems to be every Filipino basketball fan’s dream.
“Every tweet you ever see in the Philippines is, ‘Why don’t we ask Erik Spoelstra to come over and coach our national team?’ ” said Cone. “I mean, come on. We get that every time, ‘He should be over here coaching our team.’”
Farfetched at this point but not impossible down the road.
“Maybe he’ll return the favor, too, one of these days.” Spoelstra, whose mother Elisa Celino is from San Pablo, Laguna, said. “And maybe I can be one of his assistants in one of those tournaments, a long time down the road. That would be pretty cool.”