CALAMBA CITY — A light, positive atmosphere greeted members of Gilas Pilipinas when they opened their training camp on Friday in preparation for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia from 2 to 7 July.
No less than head coach Tim Cone presided over the morning workout at the Inspire Sports Academy with assistant coach Jong Uichico, team manager Richard del Rosario and liaison officer Yvette Ruiz were in attendance to provide extra hands.
Far Eastern University mentor Sean Chambers, who used to serve as Cone’s go-to-guy in reinforced conferences when he was still calling the shots for the defunct Alaska franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), was also around to provide valuable inputs to national team members in their first training since the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in February. He is expected to be part of Cone’s coaching staff.
In their first day of training, Cone stressed the importance of polishing their game plan, especially the Triangle Offense, the attack formation that brought him so much success, not only in the PBA, but in the international arena as well.
In fact, Cone executed the Triangle Offense to perfection during the 19th Asian Games in China last year. The system did wonders as it led to a historic gold medal that was made memorable when naturalized player Justin Brownlee engineered a sizzling rally that gave the Filipinos a 77-76 semifinal victory over the host country.
Del Rosario said everybody was in high spirits as they know the significance of every single minute that they will spend inside the confines of the sprawling National University campus in this bustling city south of Metro Manila.
“First practice was about reacquainting the guys with the system,” Del Rosario said, adding that everybody signifies their willingness to spearhead the country back to the Olympics for the first time since seeing action in the Summer Games in Munich in 1954.
“Everyone was happy to represent the country and Coach Tim emphasized our mission, and that is to win and not just to show up.”
Back from a fruitful stint for Indonesian club Pelita Jaya in the Basketball Champions League Asia, the 36-year-old Brownlee showed up in perfect form after suffering a minor injury last month.
Seven-time PBA Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez of San Miguel Beer also showed up together with Chris Newsome of Meralco, whom they faced in a nail-biting finals series of the recent Philippine Cup.
Also checking-in were other PBA stars Japeth Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra and Calvin Oftana of TNT Tropang Giga as well as international campaigners Kai Sotto, Dwight Ramos and Carl Tamayo with college players Mason Amos of Ateneo de Manila University and Kevin Quiambao of De La Salle University.
The camp will run until Monday morning. Then, Gilas will roll back to Manila to face the Taiwan Mustangs in a friendly match that will be made available to the public.
They will leave for Istanbul on Tuesday to face the national teams of Turkey and Poland before going to the Latvian capital of Riga to confront the Latvians and Georgians in the first round of the qualifiers.
Cone, in a previous statement, said they will fly to Europe with zero expectations, knowing that making a return to the Olympics after more than 50 years of absence will not be easy.
I don’t believe in expectations. I want to just focus on the process of going there,” Cone said.
“Our goal — as I’ve said in the past — is to win it but that’s not our focus. That’s not part of our thinking process.”
“To have expectations now, I think, is counterproductive.”