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MANILA, Philippines – Assistant coach Tim Cone is under no illusion that Gilas Pilipinas can go all the way in the FIBA World Cup.
But the winningest PBA coach said qualifying for the Paris Games is the target as the Philippines tries to finish as the highest-placed Asian squad in the World Cup, a feat that guarantees a spot in the Olympics next year.
“We’re not going to win the World Cup, that’s for sure,” Cone told One News’ Thought Leaders with Cathy Yang. “We’re not going to beat the Dream Team or Greece with Giannis Antetokounmpo or Slovenia with Luka Doncic.”
“We’re not going to beat those teams, but our goal in the World Cup, if we finish as the best Asian team in the World Cup, then we automatically qualify for the Olympics. That’s really the goal.”
Drawn in Group A with world No. 10 Italy, No. 23 Dominican Republic, and No. 41 Angola, Gilas Pilipinas is the only Asian team bunched with just one top 20 nation.
China, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, and Jordan are all grouped with two top 20 squads.
Iran, which qualified for the Tokyo Games as the best-placed Asian team in the 2019 World Cup in China, will go up against No. 1 Spain and No. 13 Brazil in Group G.
China is with No. 6 Serbia and No. 20 Puerto Rico in Group B; Jordan with No. 2 USA and No. 9 Greece in Group C; Japan with No. 3 Australia and No. 11 Germany in Group E; and Lebanon with No. 5 France and No. 15 Canada in Group H.
To boost its Olympic chances, the Philippines eyes a top-two finish in its group to advance to the second round.
It will not be a walk in the park, though, as Gilas Pilipinas lost to all of its three opponents in Group A in their previous encounters.
The Philippines absorbed a 46-point beating from Italy and suffered an overtime loss to Angola in the last World Cup and fell to Dominican Republic by 27 points in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament two years ago.
But Cone said the national team is capable of making a splash with the right pieces.
“As long as we have all the players, Kai Sotto, Jordan Clarkson… Dwight Ramos, we get the team that we envisioned, that we’ve been working with… we can be competitive and we might be able to do something,” he said.
Kicking off its World Cup preparations on Wednesday, June 7, Gilas Pilipinas is scheduled for a European camp to face teams from Finland, Estonia, and Lithuania over the next two months. – Rappler.com
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