Gilas Pilipinas players carry their head coach Tim Cone following their win over Jordan in the men’s basketball gold medal match at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Tim Cone sounded so grounded when he said that the Philippines winning the Asian Games gold was just a matter of time—and that he was lucky enough to be at the helm of the national team when the right moment caught up with the country. “
We’re just too good of a basketball nation not to win this thing,” said Cone. “It had to be somebody at some time.”
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The time came Friday night, with a 70-60 victory over debuting finalist Jordan—unbeaten going into the gold medal match—ending a 61-year wait for the country to reclaim the Asian basketball throne here in Hangzhou, China.
Cone was hired to coach the squad as a stop-game measure while the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), reeling from a failed Fiba World Cup bid, was trying to figure out how to proceed with the national basketball program.
“The whole vision of why I was part of this one was just to give them (SBP) time to settle in and decide what they want to do going forward,’’ said Cone after delivering Team Philippines’ fourth gold medal in the Games.
“So that’s really the thing right now, where SBP is going to go from here,’’ he added. “If you remember in 2019, I took over as interim [coach] and that gave [the SBP] an opportunity to decide which way they want to go. So this was the job and I completed the job so we’ll see where we’ll go from here.’’
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The natural progression of things would have the SBP offering Cone the task of rebuilding the program. But until that happens, the decorated coach doesn’t feel it’s time to address speculations—not even about defending the crown in Japan in 2026.
“Right now, I’ll be honest with you. I’m not thinking that far forward. I was thinking about going back to Ginebra, that’s my baby and I’m still trying to live up to Sonny’s (Jaworski) legacy all the time,’’ he added.