Chambers on Gilas: Incredible talent

It didn’t take long for Gilas Pilipinas to impress its new coach — Sean Chambers.

After wrapping up his first day of training, Chambers was in awe, admitting that he was swept away by the talent of the Gilas Pilipinas squad that will see action in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament next month in Riga, Latvia.

One of the best imports ever to play in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Chambers was brought in by head coach Tim Cone to help him preach the gospel of the Triangle Offense to these national team members.

Chambers and Cone had gone a long way.

Their partnership gave the disbanded Alaska franchise six PBA titles, including a rare grand slam in 1997.

Cone eventually blossomed to becoming the league’s winningest mentor with 25 titles while Chambers went back to the United States to serve as school principal.

But now, with Cone being appointed as Gilas head coach and Chambers coming in to serve as mentor of Far Eastern University (FEU), the tandem that shook the PBA to its very foundation three decades ago is back with a bigger mission of leading the country back to the Olympics after a 52-year absence.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to represent the Philippines on an international stage,” Chambers told Daily Tribune a few hours after team manager Richard del Rosario confirmed that he will be coming over as one of Cone’s assistant coaches.

In fact, Chambers will be joining the trip in Europe on Tuesday, where Gilas Pilipinas will face the national teams of Turkey and Poland before battling Latvia and Georgia in the first round of the qualifiers.

“I am so honored that Coach Tim, SBP (Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas), and FEU have given me the opportunity to support the national team. Tim told the team about my knowledge of Triangle Offense and I can give them feedback whenever necessary.”

But it wasn’t the system that caught Chambers’ attention in his first meeting with Chambers admitted that the talent of Gilas Pilipinas was truly “incredible” with slotmen Kai Sotto and June Mar Fajardo manning the paint and naturalized player Justin Brownlee backing them up.

“The team has incredible talent across the board,” Chambers, now 59, said.

“Kai and June Mar are generational talents supported by the incredible Justin Brownlee. Scottie (Thompson) is not available to play but there’s still plenty of firepower at the guard position.”

He also mentioned Dwight Ramos, who can practically play all positions on the floor with his dribbling, passing, shooting and rebounding, making him perfect to shine in a systematic offense like the Triangle.

“Lastly, I’ve always been a fan of Dwight Ramos and his multiple skills level,” said Chambers, adding that he couldn’t wait to share the secrets of his long and successful PBA career to the current stars of this generation.