Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone tipped his hat to his players for their commitment to play for flag and country.
Despite dealing with injuries or having no assurance of getting their usual playing time, they all heeded the call for another tour of duty with Gilas.
Going hard in two-a-day practices and giving their all, hurting and all, during games show the sacrifices Gilas players are willing to go through for the nation’s cause.
“I’ll be honest, they are not making big money doing this. They come here basically, it’s a small little portion of the salaries they make in their home teams, with what they are making here,” Cone said.
“They are coming here with their hearts more than their pockets.”
Gilas gave the home crowd something to cheer about when it took down world No. 22 New Zealand, 93-89, last Thursday for the first of its two homestands in the second window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Filipinos, unbeaten in three games since the opening window last February, only need to hurdle winless Hong Kong to book a seat into the main draw hosted by Saudi Arabia in August next.
Gilas and Hong Kong are playing as of press time.
Cone praised the hard work his wards put in for the recent success of the Gilas program, which includes a semifinal finish in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament highlighted by an 89-80 upset of world No. 6 Latvia last July in Riga, Latvia.
Gilas shocked the world with its victory over Latvia and great showing against Georgia and Brazil, which eventually booked a ticket to the Paris Olympic, despite playing without injured starting point guard Scottie Thompson, AJ Edu and Jamie Malonzo.
Players like 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto, who had to complete concussion protocols after a scary collision during his stint in the Japan B.League just days before the start of the second window drew mad respect from Cone.
“They are going to two-a-day practices, poor guy [Sotto] had to go through two-a-day practices coming off a concussion. And still battled through it all. And everybody is doing the same,” the decorated mentor said.
Edu flew back from Japan to join the pool despite a knee injury albeit once again missing action. Reserve naturalized player Ange Kouame and injured Barangay Ginebra forward Malonzo also hooked up with the team to show their support.
“My hat is really off to the players and what they’re doing to get to this level and to get to this point. I think we all should be proud of them,” Cone added.
The tactician couldn’t be prouder of his Gilas squad.
However, he could only imagine what greater height Gilas could’ve achieved if not for some setbacks in his men’s health.
“We haven’t seen our best team yet and yet were able to beat the No. 6 (Latvia) and No. 22 (New Zealand). So, we’re still trying to see exactly where we can go and how far we can go,” Cone said.