![Tim Cone Philippines](https://sports.inquirer.net/files/2023/08/IMG_1209_FIBA-world-cup-Philippines-vs-Dominican-Republic_Coach-Tim-Cone-scaled.jpg)
Tim Cone was an assistant coach for Gilas during the Fiba World Cup. -MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – Several names came to the fore once Tim Cone was revealed as Gilas Pilipinas’ coach for the Asian Games.
The decorated tactician playfully commented on the likelihood of these cages joining the campaign in Hangzhou, China.
Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser led that pack, as he was one of those named on the Entry By Name (EBN) list the National Federation submitted to the Asian Games Organizing Committee a few months ago.
“They did some kind of bone scan and they still found fractures that haven’t healed yet,” Cone said of the NLEX striker who was part of the team that won the gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games last summer.
“Now he will have to rehabilitate for four weeks, so the timeline has been set for him. But we would like to have it. He was one of our prime-gets that we won’t be able to reach,” he continued.
Ange Kouame was one of the players on that preliminary EBN list, but Cone said the Gilas-brain trust is still in the process of securing his commitment with an offer from a European professional club coming into the picture.
“He is definitely part of the Final 12 if he is available. Something is going on in Europe, and I’m not entirely clear on the whole situation. That’s more (former team manager) Butch Antonio and Alfrancis (Chua) working on that and talking,” he said.
Justine Baltazar not available
![Justine Baltazar of Gilas Pilipinas](https://sports.inquirer.net/files/2021/06/justine-baltazar-gilas-indonesia.jpeg)
FILE– Justine Baltazar during her stint with Gilas Pilipinas. FIBA ASIA CUP PHOTO
Many fans on social media have been vying for Justine Baltazar, a versatile forward who served under the Tab Baldwin Gilas rosters. But Cone said the former La Salle chief executive has shown no interest in aligning himself with Gilas.
“Balti, we’ve been trying to get hold of him for a long time, but he’s not available. we tried to get him for the World Cup team, we tried really hard to get him for the World Cup, he was one of the guys we really wanted but he’s just not available. He has not shown us any interest,” he said.
Cone played coy when asked about Chris Newsome and Arvin Tolentino, who competed in the SEA Games with Ganuelas-Rosser. The Meralco guard was also one of the last members of the World Cup squad.
However, he indicated that Gilas is looking for TNT CEO Mikey Williams.
“There are still a lot of guys in the PBA and some of the guys we talked about are still up in the air… and you all know him, he can be a really big impact for us: Mikey Williams,” said Cone . .
“But he is not an obstacle for the team as we are still trying to get him here in time so he can prepare for us. But he would be a game changer if we got him on the team. He could score and expand the defense and he can open things up for Justin (Brownlee),” he added.
Help from Ginebra
Cone will address his Ginebra players – Scottie Thompson and Japeth Aguilar – asking other players to help with training to make up for shrinking prep time. However, he noted that Jamie Malonzo and Jeremiah Gray are both out of the picture due to their respective injuries.
Malonzo suffered a hip and back injury during the World Cup, with Gray still trying to regain his fitness after hurting his knee during the Gin Kings’ On Tour campaign.
“We are thinking about bringing in a few Ginebra players as (warm) bodies that could help us… maybe Sidney Onwubere, or Nards Pinto. We’d like to have Jeremiah, but Sayang. He would have been perfect for this. He definitely would have been the guy we would have put on this team. But we could maybe put some Ginebra guys on the team (knowing they’re not going to make it on the team) to help us practice, just to get us going,” he said.
As things stand, only June Mar Fajardo of Aguilar, Thompson and San Miguel is guaranteed to join the Gilas Pilipinas squad, which will be led by the tireless Justin Brownlee.
And despite the many uncertainties surrounding the team, Cone made one thing for sure: they are going for the gold.
‘We’re going to bring [positivity] and do what we can. As PBA Chairman (Ricky Vargas) said, we are not afraid to fail. We will learn from it and we will be better off. We’re all going to coach the guys we get and see what we can do,” he said.
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