By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone defended his triangle system after it became the center of criticisms following the Nationals seventh place finish in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.
Fans and enthusiasts were critical of the system which Cone has long been applying to his teams, including the national team, as many felt it was already obsolete for the modern style of play.
Cone said on Saturday, Aug. 16, that he was very well aware of the criticisms about the triangle and while there has been criticisms, he stressed that he is sticking to the system he is familiar with and brought numerous championships already for him.
“I know people are complaining and upset about our triangle system,” Cone said during the Power and Play program.
“And I just feel a couple of things. Number one, this is what I do best and what I’ve done throughout my whole career. So for me to go out and teach something that I don’t know doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me,“ Cone pointed out.
The veteran mentor, however, understood that the criticisms were all part of the job he signed up for and it always comes up every time the team is losing.
“When we were beating Latvia, nobody said anything about the triangle. When we were beating New Zealand, when we won the Asian Games, nobody was saying anything about the triangle,“ said Cone.
“And now, people are beating up the triangle again. It just seems to be a fad to be able to do that,” he added.
As fiery as the online vitriol at Gilas lackluster performance, Cone said he is making it a point to read all the comments in social media. The veteran mentor even added that he is taking notes of the suggestions.
“I read social media and I do it on purpose. I don’t mean to. I don’t like to do it. But I do it because I want to hear what people are saying, even though it’s difficult to read sometimes. But that’s the life pulse that I need to know,” Cone said.
“Some people have really good suggestions… I follow guys and I’m interested in what they say because I think it’s important to try to see what other people are saying,“ he added.
“But it can be difficult sometimes, but you have to swallow some stuff. But that comes with the job. It’s a tough job. It’s a tough job mostly because it’s a critical position. But I’ll continue to do it,” Cone added.
