By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas deputy coach Tim Cone is standing by his embattled head coach Chot Reyes after being reduced to a punching bag following the team’s poor showing in the ongoing 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Cone took to social media on Saturday, Sept. 2, hours before Gilas looming clash against China, saying that the losses have been a tough pill to swallow not just for the fans but also for the coaches and players.
“It’s been tough on all of us, the players, the coaching staff, everyone involved,” posted the Barangay Ginebra champion coach on X (formerly Twitter).
“Needless to say, the results have not been what we wanted, but we’re proud of our effort. We’re now going to go out and give one more superhuman effort to beat China tonight,” he added.
In a separate interview with One Sports’ Carlo Pamintuan, Cone also stressed that he has no plans of taking over Reyes’ position amid the growing call from the fans for the embattled coach to step down.
“If coach Chot goes, I go,” said Cone.
“Some assistant coaches come into a team believing that they will get their chance to be the head coach someday but that’s not me. I’m here to serve at Coach Chot’s pleasure. I’m only here to support him because I believe in him,” he added.
Cone also shared that putting all the blame has been unfair for Reyes, stressing that despite Gilas’ poor record, he has done a great job preparing the players against the tough competition in the world stage
“I think the reaction to Chot has been unfair. If you have 12 coaches in a room, they will coach any game 12 different ways,” explained Cone
“In the Philippines, you have 110 million coaches, who will all have opinions but being an assistant coach here, I’m the one who sees it up close and I think he’s done a great job,” he said of Reyes.
