SBP set to name nat’l coach
MANILA, Philippines — Will it still be Tim Cone? Will anyone among Norman Black, Jong Uichico and Tab Baldwin be called for a return duty to handle Team Philippines? Or will it anybody else from the PBA?
All these are possibilities as the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas applies a stopgap measure for the opening window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in February while yet to draw the long-term path it would traverse towards the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
“All those we know are possible candidates,” said SBP president Al Panlilio as to who will form and call the shots for Gilas Pilipinas in a home game versus Thailand on Feb. 20 and an away match opposite Indonesia on Feb. 23 in the initial leg of the continental meet eliminator.
Panlilio said they’ve yet to sit down and chart their long-term plans because of the tight schedule from the 2019 World Cup, the Southeast Asian Games and the long December holidays.
But Panlilio said they might already be done with their search process for the permanent Gilas coach before the November window of the qualifiers for the FIBA Asia Cup – a stand-alone event ruled by Australia in Beirut in 2017.
Why not just keep the triumphant SEAG team under Cone?
“Coach Tim will always be a possibility, but our agreement with him really was just the Southeast Asian Games. He has his commitment with his ball club which is to play in the (PBA Governors Cup) finals,” said Panlilio.
And talking about familiarity with the national team and the FIBA Asia competition, Baldwin and Uichico naturally come to mind.
Before his dominant run in the UAAP with the Ateneo Blue Eagles, Baldwin steered Gilas to a runner-up finish in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship while Uichico has long been Team Phl assistant coach who had his turns to lead the national team to SEAG gold-medal feats in 2013 in Naypyidaw and 2017 in Kuala Lumpur.
Panlilio said they would decide on the temporary Gilas coach in the next few days.
As for the makeup of the team, Panlilio said it would be a combination of Gilas cadets and PBA veterans.
“We’ve named five cadets in Isaac Go, Rey Suerte, Allyn Bulanadi and twin brothers Matt and Mike Nieto, and recently added Thirdy Ravena and Jaydee Tungcab,” said Panlilio. “But we’re not sure even with Ravena because we’re not aware of his plans.”
Eyed to play as naturalized player is either Christian Standhardinger or Stanley Pringle.
Six games in three windows over a 12-month period are scheduled for the Philippines in Group A of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers.
Composing the group are the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea. The top two after the double-round-robin of play automatically advance to the FIBA Asia proper, with the third team going through a separate qualifying event among third-place teams (six) to determine the last four teams to complete the Asia Cup 16-team roster.
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