Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone believes that future Gilas Pilipinas players should dedicate their full time and attention to the national team program if they want to emerge victorious in the international arena.

Cone said the current system of borrowing players from professional leagues like the Philippine Basketball Association and Japan B. League will not work as the International Basketball Federation is now holding tournaments more often as before.

Cone knows what he is saying.

Aside from being the most successful mentor in the history of the Philippine Basketball Association, he also coached Gilas Pilipinas to a pair of Asian Games gold medals — the first was a bronze in Bangkok in 1998 and the latest was a historic gold in Hangzhou last year.

Now, he is being floated as the frontrunner to call the shots for Gilas in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the window tourneys leading to the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup after getting interviewed by the SBP.

Cone stressed that for the Gilas program to work, the federation should keep a pool of full-time national team players.

"In my opinion — I don't know if I am speaking here for the SBP — if you're going to use the PBA players or the Japan players, you can't have them doing full-time jobs for Gilas. It's not going to work," said Cone shortly after leading the Kings to a 106-93 win over NorthPort in the quarterfinals of the Commissioner's Cup late Friday.

"It's not enough to work, it's only three windows. If you're talking this year, maybe maximum, that means if you're advancing during the middle windows, maximum eight games. But most likely, you're talking about five to six games this year."

The FIBA window tourneys have been the dilemma of domestic leagues around the world. Unlike Japan B. League, the PBA doesn't stop its scheduled matches similar to what the National Basketball Association is doing.

Cone said playing for Gilas requires full-time commitment and that has been the challenge for the PBA and overseas Filipino players as well as the members of the national coaching staff, who have to honor their contracts with their respective professional teams.