By REYNALD MAGALLON
It’s been clear from the very beginning that Gilas Pilipinas’ ultimate goal is the Olympics – be in Paris this July or Los Angeles in 2028.
And both Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Al Panlilio and head coach Tim Cone reiterated that aspirations as the Nationals formally began their four-year program to achieve it with the preparation for the first window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
“I’ve said this before, I think I’ve said it during the Asian games. Our goal, in my mind, is to make the Olympics. That’s really our goal. Whether in Paris or in LA, four years or five years from now, our goal is to make the Olympics,” said Cone during Gilas send-off press conference on Monday, Feb. 19 at the PhilSports Arena.
The last time a PH team took part in the biggest sporting show in the world was during the 1972 Munich Games – 32 years since its fifth place in the Berlin Games.
In the 1936 edition, the Philippines dropped only one game in four matches, losing only to eventual champion the United States.
The Nationals finished 13th in 1972 – no improvement from their 1968 showing in Mexico.
With that in mind, Cone formulated a program where he named 12 players that he deemed fit for his system and planned to stick with them over the course of the qualifying windows and other international tournaments in the four-year FIBA cycle.
Gilas currently has two ways to make it back to the Olympics – first by winning in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Latvia in July and second, becoming the best placed Asian team in the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar.
The Nationals are up for an uphill climb in the OQT as they are set to face world No. 8 Latvia and No. 23 Georgia. Although it would be the longer road to take, the World Cup in Qatar seemed to be the ideal way for Gilas to enter the Olympics.
And in order to do that, Cone, like what he had repeatedly declared, he intends to use the qualifying windows to form enough cohesion and chemistry heading into the, hopefully, country’s fourth-straight World Cup appearance.
“We want to qualify again in the next World Cup but we want to do better. I think my aspirations in the last World Cup were two wins. We fell short. We haven’t got to two wins in the World Cup and if you notice in the 32 teams, the top 16, there was no Asian team. We are all at the bottom, maybe we can do better than that,” said Panlilio for his part.
While Cone has a good view of the bigger picture in his head, the veteran tactician wants his team to have a tunnel vision of things and just be focused on what’s in front of them.
“We’re not gonna be thinking about that, talking about that as a group. Our focus is what’s gonna take us to that and that’s the day to day process to battle. That’s part of the process. These windows are part of the process as we continue forward,” stressed Cone.
