Gilas Pilipinas will embark on a new journey once the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China starts later this month.
Following the 2023 FIBA World Cup, the team is set for a fresh start as they will now be spearheaded by the PBA’s winningest coach, Barangay Ginebra’s Tim Cone.
And while this wouldn’t be the first time that the two-time PBA grand slam coach will be heading the national team, Cone admits that there is still a huge weight that comes with calling the shots for the Filipino hoopers.
“There’s always pressure because you care,” the former Alaska tactician said in an interview with One Sports on Tuesday, September 12.
“If you’re gonna care about the country and what people [want], and you wanna make a country happy, there’s always that incredible pressure that you’re representing something much larger than yourself,” Cone said.
“That puts a lot of pressure on your shoulders,” he said.
“But pressure is not necessarily a bad thing. You can use it the proper way, and that’s what we’re trying to learn with these guys,” he added.
However, the former San Mig Coffee coach is not new to pressure as he is used to handling powerhouse teams.
One thing that can be compared to this is how he dealt with mentoring the country’s most popular team in Ginebra.
“That’s something that I learned with Ginebra [and] the crowd. You don’t wanna disappoint the Ginebra crowd,” Cone, who has won at least one title with the Gin Kings ever since his first season with the perennial crowd darlings, said.
But their first championship didn’t come until the third conference of the 2015-2016 season, having endured heartbreaks during that year’s Philippine Cup and Commissioner’s Cup.
This is why Cone understands and preaches on how Gilas must deal with their struggles, particularly in the World Cup, en route to their journey in China in two weeks.
“When I first started with the team, the team was so crushed, we didn’t play well. We had to learn how to handle that and use it, use that pressure,” Cone said.
“It took us a little bit [of] time [but] we were able to figure out how to use that pressure in our favor. [We] used that huge crowd to pump us up,” he said.
“It’s kind of the same thing here. We’re trying to use that pressure to play,” he added.
Gilas will have their first taste of Asiad action when they face Bahrain on September 26, as they look to redeem themselves after an abysmal showing during the recently concluded FIBA World Cup. (ABS-CBN News)