CONE: ABUEVA 'JUST BROKE DOWN AND CRIED'

While Gilas interim coach Tim Cone admitted the last few days has been a roller-coaster ride for the national squad due to the uncertainty concerning the status of some members of the team, Calvin Abueva seemed to be the most affected after turning emotional on Monday.

Cone shared that the "Beast", who has been the "most energetic and most passionate" in team practice, broke down after being told he won't be able to play for Gilas in the upcoming 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China

"When we told him (Abueva) last night, he just broke down and cried, that he has no chance (to play for Gilas), but 30 minutes later, (I told him again), we do have a small chance, but this is the way it has been, been a roller-coaster for all of us, me, especially," said Cone during the hastily-called press conference on Tuesday.

The 65-year-old Cone lauded Abueva for setting such a great example to the rest of the Gikas players, showing up with so much energy since the team started practice over a week ago.

"Calvin has shown such great passion being with us and being in every practice," said the American mentor. "Been telling the guys that I'm a short practice guy. I like to practice hard, but short, maybe just an hour and a half. That's just my style."

"But at Inspire, we're literally doing practice for three hours, practice, practice, then we take a break, go weights, then rest, then go for another three hours, and Cavin has been amazing, showing passion and wanting to play and wanting to be there," explained Cone, in raving over the 35-year-old Magnolia forward's commitment to Gilas.

Gilas team manager Alfrancis Chua added: "It's really painful for me because me and Tim talked to the boys to join the team."

In the same presser, Chua and Cone announced that they are bringing in San Miguel's CJ Perez and Chris Ross, along with NLEX's Kevin Alas and NorthPort's Arvin Tolentino to attend the Gilas training camp in Laguna.

The four new additional players are there on standby in case Abueva, Moala Tautuaa, Terrence Romeo, and Jason Perkins fail to get the green light by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee (HAGOC) to play in the quadrennial games.

Basketball competitions are set to fire off on September 26 with Gilas opening the games versus Bahrain.

2023-09-19T19:27:48Z dg43tfdfdgfd