Change is coming: Cone hints at simplified offense ahead of 3rd window

Change is definitely coming for Gilas Pilipinas.

Two heartbreaking losses to Oceania powerhouse teams New Zealand and Australia have left head coach Tim Cone pondering what the Philippines should do moving forward in the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

The decorated mentor is considering ditching his signature triangle offense, if not parts of it, and simplifying Gilas’ offensive flow.

“You know, it’s back to the drawing board for me a little bit,” Cone’s immediate answer after suffering a 66-93 blowout defeat to the Australians to wrap a two-game homestand Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Given little time to prepare together with some of his players on the roster coming from abroad and under different systems, running the complicated triangle may not be as effective as Cone would have wanted.

“Like I said earlier, I think we’re going to have to look a little bit at our offense and maybe try to simplify things a little more,” he said.

Gilas had a hard time generating points even after deviating from the triangle, something the Tall Blacks and the Boomers exploited to pull away in the second half of their matches.

The Nationals kept the game close against New Zealand and almost forced overtime after clipping an 11-point deficit in the fourth period, only to come up short, 66-69, last Thursday.

Despite the losses, Gilas has already secured a spot in the second round with a 2-2 win-loss record.

Cone, however, still wants his wards to get better looks and high-percentage shots heading into the third window in 3 and 6 July on the road in New Zealand and Australia, respectively.

Gilas’ shooting woes have been evident even after dominating Guam in back-to-back games in the first window.

The Filipinos are shooting 40.4 percent from the field, with a low 25.2 percent from three-point range, averaging 6.5 made triples in 25.8 attempts per outing.

In contrast, Australia is nailing norms of 12.3 triples per game, while New Zealand is at 7.5 treys per start. Even Guam fares better with 8.8 three-pointers per game despite a winless run.

For Cone, Gilas has fine shooters but admits that the reason why his team is not connecting on its outside shots traces back to how it runs its plays — justifying the need for adjustments on offense.

“Well, you know, we got shooters. You know, I think everybody complains about our team (that) we don’t have shooters. We got Dwight (Ramos). We got Juan (Gomez de Liano). You know, we got Justin (Brownlee). We got KQ (Kevin Quiambao). You know, we got guys who can light (it up) and Calvin (Oftana). You know, we have shooters on the team,” Cone said.

“It’s just that we’re not generating the shots that we want to generate. It’s not about, you know, it’s not about the shots going in or out. It’s about getting the quality of shots,” he added.

“And that’s when I said, when I talked about we have to kind of look at what we’re doing, maybe simplify a little bit more so that we can get a little bit more open looks. But I don’t think there’s a problem with our shooting. We just haven’t shot the ball that well.”

Still, Cone has no excuse after Gilas’ humiliation in its own backyard.

“Very, very painful here at home, you know, just doing that in front of the home crowd was tough,” he said.