Tim Cone: ‘I don’t know any Asian imports better than our players’

Jane Bracher

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Tim Cone: ‘I don’t know any Asian imports better than our players’
"We just proved in the World Championships that we’re at the best of Asia and now we’re gonna bring in imports that are supposed to be better than our players?"

MANILA, Philippines – Two-time Grand Slam coach and former national team head coach Tim Cone believes the Philippines has improved in basketball significantly enough that it will be difficult to find Asian players better than our own.

“I don’t know any Asian imports that are better than our players,” said the decorated San Mig Coffee coach. “But we’ll look around and see if we can find one.”

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is exploring the possibility of bringing in Asian reinforcements likely during the season-ending Governors’ Cup conference. The reinforcements, according to Chairman Pato Gregorio, won’t be treated as imports. In effect, if the idea is approved by the Board of Governors in a meeting this November, the Asian player will play alongside a team’s import. Teams are allowed to bring in towering imports to bolster the squad during the Commissioner’s Cup and Governors’ Cup conferences. 

The Philippines’ own Gilas Pilipinas, comprised of professional PBA players, made a splash in the recent FIBA World Cup in Spain with near-wins against the world’s basketball powerhouses. They also notched their first win on the world stage after 4 decades as they defeated Senegal. Gilas also climbed 3 places to number 31 in the FIBA world rankings. 

And although they crashed and burned in the Incheon Asian Games with its worst ever 7th place finish in the tournament, Cone still thinks the Philippines is already a force to be reckoned with at least in Asia.

When asked for his thoughts about the possibility of having additional Asian reinforcements, Cone declined to comment except to say that he believes Philippine basketball has made huge strides in Asia and the world that, in essence, makes local players just as good as potential Asian players coming in.

“I really don’t have a comment. That’s up to the Board of Governors to make those decisions whether I agree or disagree with them,” said Cone, who has also had experience in the international level at the helm of the 1998 Centennial Team.

“Only thing I’ll say is we just proved in the World Championships – now the Asian Games is a different story because we didn’t play well – but we just proved in the World Championships that we’re at the best of Asia and now we’re gonna bring in imports that are supposed to be better than our players?” – Rappler.com

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