![With Abueva, Romeo and co. probably out, Gilas calls up four players for Asia preparation](https://sports.inquirer.net/files/2023/09/kevin-alas.jpg)
Kevin Unfortunately – PHOTOS FROM FIBA
With five more faces to integrate into his system and a shrinking window to do so, Tim Cone’s task of preparing Gilas Pilipinas for the 19th Asian Games (Asiad) has become much, much tougher.
However, his confidence remains unchanged.
“It doesn’t change our approach to how we do things. Our goal is still to try to win a gold medal,” the interim national coach told a few reporters on Tuesday.
“That will always be our goal. We’re not looking for silver or bronze, we’re looking for gold,” he continued.
Gilas Pilipinas is holding its breath on the availability of Calvin Abueva, Jason Perkins, Terrence Romeo and Mo Tautuaa as they are not included in a new list that the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee is currently using as a reference.
CJ Perez, Chris Ross, Arvin Tolentino and Kevin Alas were called up as emergency measures for the four who have been training hard with Cone at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna province. Marcio Lassiter, meanwhile, replaces Roger Pogoy who withdrew from the campaign due to a medical condition.
A resolution is expected to be announced in the coming days, or just before the contingent departs for Hangzhou, China.
![With Abueva, Romeo and co. probably out, Gilas calls up four players for Asia preparation](https://sports.inquirer.net/files/2023/09/calvin-abueva.jpg)
Calvin Abueva —PHOTOS FROM FIBA
For now, Cone is just happy that a Plan B is in motion because he can now focus on the things that matter.
“Our focus is our process. It’s what we did this workout, it’s what we do next workout,” he said. “For me personally, how can I put out all the fires that come out? One fire at a time… This is one of the things we want to deal with, the lineup. And for the public: be transparent, let them know what’s going on. That was one of the fires we wanted to put out.”
“The next problem is I have a lot of guys in practice, so I have to figure out how to teach the guys who just came in and still teach the guys who have been there and keep them going” , he added.
Cone is bracing for inconsistent practices, and rightly so. The reinforcements have just joined the camp in Laguna and he believes it will take some time before they get a good idea of what this edition of the national five has to offer. But he keeps the faith.
No strangers
“When we play together, that’s how it is [going to be] very disruptive, because a lot of guys don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know the plays, they don’t know the moves,” he said.
“Good news is that Inspire has a lot of jobs, so we can put guys on this job; There are a few guys on that field. And it’s good that the guys in question are still with us to help us place the new guys [in the loop],” he added.
What keeps Cone’s optimism high is that the five newcomers are really not strangers.
Lassiter, Ross, Tolentino and Perez all served alongside him in Gilas’ gold medal win at the Southeast Asian Games last summer. Unfortunately, being the son of a coach, his basketball knowledge would allow him to pick up plans and tactics easily.
“Defensively I think we will be fine, we are not going to lose too much. Offensively we have a lot of catching up to do,” he said.
“Hopefully we can catch up with these guys a little bit. It won’t happen by the time we play the Koreans. I thought we would really be on top when we played against the Koreans and that we could put on a good show. Now I’m not so sure. But we will get there and that is our goal.” INQ
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