Looking back at the events that transpired for the entire year of Gilas, 2024 hardly looked like a year of experiments and trial and errors. Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone repeatedly emphasized that 2024 was a trial year for the national team program. For one, it was only at the start of the year when he accepted the unforgiving and thankless job of steering the helm for Gilas – a team that will always be under the watchful eyes of this basketball-crazy nation.
At any given result, the Filipino fans could be his greatest supporters or his most vicious critics. But looking back at the events that transpired for the entire year of Gilas, 2024 hardly looked like a year of experiments and trial and errors. In just under 10 months since Cone’s appointment as the national team coach, Gilas was finally winning.
To be fair, it also did before, with Chot Reyes a decade back in time and with Tab Baldwin just a few years ago. The difference probably is that, regardless of the outcome of the games, Gilas, for the first time in a while, finally had some sense of direction. And this year’s feats speak for itself.
Cone forms a team, not just a band of great players Not a few raised their eyebrows when Cone named his pool. A lean 12-man lineup was created with Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos serving as the backups. It was far from the usual long list of big name players all fighting for their spots on the team.
Perhaps the golden conquest of Gilas during the Asian Games in 2023 had .
