Cone named deputies

Jimmy is joining because of his knowledge of the ABL.

Tim Cone forms an interesting mix of assistant coaches in the SEA Games. ROMAN PROSPERO

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel head coach Tim Cone named his deputies for the coming 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games men’s basketball competition. And the list was quite interesting.

Jimmy Alapag, Jong Uichico and Gin Kings forward Joe Devance will join Cone’s coaching staff for the 11-nation conclave which the country is hosting from 30 November to 11 December.

“Jimmy is joining because of his knowledge of the ABL (Asean Basketball League), and the players that he’s going against. He knows these guys very well,” Cone said.

“He called and asked if he could join, and (San Miguel Corporation sports director) Alfrancis Chua approved him.”

Uichico was a surprise addition as his last coaching gig in the PBA was with TNT KaTropa, the rival company of SMC.

“I’ve known Jong for years and years. We are good buddies. But he is basically the SBP appointee in the team. He knows the international game as well as anybody in the country,” Cone said.

“We want to make it a collaboration. We don’t want it to be an SMC thing. We don’t want it to be a Smart thing. We want to make it a Gilas thing, a Pilipinas thing,” he added.

Devance was also a surprise addition as the 37-year old forward has no coaching experience.

But Cone said Devance will be a good fit as he knows his system and he’s a well-respected player in the league.

“He’s injured, can’t play, so I asked him, ‘Why don’t you just join us and help us out?’ “ Cone said.

“Because he carries big respect from the players, he knows my system probably better than anybody including my assistant coaches because he’s been with me for 10 or 11 years.”

The trio will join Richard Del Rosario, Freddie Abuda, and Kirk Collier in Cone’s SEA Games coaching staff.

Olsen Racela is also part of Cone’s staff but he’s still committed with Far Eastern University (FEU) in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.

“Olsen is still involved with FEU. I don’t want him doing FEU, Ginebra, and Gilas. It’s too much work. He needs to focus. Having two teams is hard enough and the work we make him do with Ginebra is enough,” Cone said.

“It’s hard to justify yourself if you split that much. We want him to be focused on FEU. He will advise and talk to us. He knows the FIBA game very well. But he won’t join us in the practices. His concentration will be on FEU.”

Cone and his 15-man pool will begin training on Monday night at the Meralco gym.