By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone was not all too worried about the results of the FIBA World Cup qualifying draw, stressing the Nationals will prepare doubly hard whoever they are going to deal with as they intend to make it four in a row in the world meet.
The Filipinos were drawn with regional powerhouses Australia and New Zealand as well as Guam last Tuesday, May 13 but the veteran mentor seemed to be unfazed by that thought as Gilas intends to focus on the bigger picture ahead.
“We’ll deal with who we have. We’re not gonna feel bad about it or regret it or even feel excited about it. It’s a job ahead of us and we’ll do what we have to do to make it,” Cone told reporters on Friday, May 16 after Ginebra’s game against Phoenix.
“The bottomline is we got to finish at the Top 7 and Australia and New Zealand are already two teams so we got five other (slots). In our mind there are nine or 10 teams that are really going to compete for those seven and we just got to be at the top 7 of those 10 and that’s the job,” he added.
Cone said he’s not really putting much meaning to the draw as that’s something beyond his control. Instead, knowing who the Filipinos will be facing would help them in their preparations.
“We’re not making a big deal of the draw, I just don’t make a deal about it. We have no control over it. If we have lost a game here and there, won a game here and there and that would have affected the draw then maybe we could be talking and have some regret but we don’t have any control over that,” explained Cone.
“I just truly believe that you control things you can control and right now, the thing that we can control is trying to get back together and prepare,” he added.
While facing up against Australia and New Zealand is surely a daunting task, Cone said it was not about beating the two powerhouses but rather achieving the goal of qualifying.
“It’s not necessarily beating Australia or New Zealand or beating Guam. It’s about getting in and qualifying. However way it takes us to do that, we’re gonna fight really hard to do that,” said Cone.
“Whether it be Australia, whether it be New Zealand, whether it be Guam, Taiwan, Korea, it doesn’t matter whoever is in front of us. We’ll take care of it so I’m not making a big deal as much as everybody else in the draw,” he added.
