Gilas Asiad nuggets: No medal, all glory for Tim Cone

HANGZHOU, China – In the Asian Games, the Southeast Asian Games or perhaps anywhere else, coaches are not awarded any medal — of any color. 

Gilas coach Tim Cone doesn’t really mind, at all. 

“No, we don’t get a medal. Even in the Southeast Asian Games, we didn’t get a medal. But they allowed us to get to the podium to get some pictures taken. Here they didn’t even allow us to get to the podium to take pictures,” said Cone Friday after the Philippines ended a 61-year Asiad basketball gold medal drought by defeating Jordan in the final, 70-60. 

“But they allowed us to take pictures at the sidelines and that was nice. Chris Newsome took his gold medal and put it over me then June Mar took his and put it on (team manager) Alfrancis Chua. So, we had our gold medals for a moment and that’s good enough,” he said. 

For Cone, it’s the glory, not the medal.