It finally happened. A week of speculation finally ended when the press conference confirmed that after 22 years, Tim Cone is stepping down as coach of the Alaska Aces of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Many have written a tribute to Coach Tim and while I may be tempted to write one, I feel like there is no topping the one written by Grantland's Rafe Bartholomew (which can be read here). Instead, I have 22 sentences about Coach Cone.
2. Many credit Coach Tim as a pioneer, for bringing the triangle offense here, but he is also a visionary fashion-wise, as his long sleeve polo plus tie combo was later on copied by Chot Reyes, Perry Ronquillo, Joel Banal and Chito Narvasa.
3. My first memory of Coach Cone is not a flattering one as I first saw his pic playing varsity basketball in short shorts in one of Romy Kintanar's half time shows.
4. Coach Tim is only the 4th coach to achieve a grand slam in the PBA and he has the most titles with imports too.
5. Coach Cone may hold the PBA record for most assistant coaches since he had 6 in Joel Banal, Dicky Bachmann, Luigi Trillo, Bong Hawkins, Jojo Lastimosa and Topex Robinson.
6. Coach Tim has two coaching disciples who have won PBA championships in Chot Reyes and Joel Banal (who both won titles for the Talk n' Text franchise).
7. As evidenced by the fact that I've seen him multiple times in multiple theaters, I gather he and his wife are movie buffs.
8. Two players I never thought Coach Cone could use effectively in his system are Willie Miller and Kenneth Duremdes.
9. Coach Tim did color commentary for Vintage Sports.
10. Coach Cone's most lingering look in my mind was his zoned out look when Allan Caidic was burying Alaska with 14 triples and 68 points.
11. The PBA Centennial Team coached by Cone remains the highest placed National Team in the Asian Games for over a decade now.
13. PBA imports who owe Coach Tim for their vast improvement in skills would be Sean Chambers and Diamon Simpson.
14. The most probable rumored new job for Coach Tim would be the La Salle gig.
15. The one thing that has mystified me over the years is what caused that scar-like feature on Coach Cone's face.
16. The retirement has caused a new wrinkle on Coach Rajko Toroman's chances for renewal as Smart Gilas coach, since Coach Tim is all of a sudden a possible replacement.
17. Coach Cone's twitter handle is @Manilacone.
18. Coach Tim was the first PBA coach to be pissed about winning teams running up the score during the closing minutes of a blow out.
20. My brother and I, for a time, did serious research to find out if Coach Tim was related to MLB pitcher David Cone, but got no confirmation.
21. I envy Coach Cone because he has met his two biggest heroes in Baby Dalupan and Tex Winter and he has made both of them proud of him.
22. The best quote about Tim Cone is by Rocio Trillo, pre-teen daughter of Luigi and Ria Trillo: "Coach Tim looks stressed."
photos courtesy of insidesports.ph, gmanews.tv and flicker.com
3 comments:
re: no.4, hindi ko alam kung tama ba yung pagkakaintindi ko sa sinabi mong "he has the most titles too," pero hindi ba si Baby Dalupan ang may pinakamaraming titles? If I remember correctly, 15 yung kay Baby Dalupan, 13 yung kay Tim Coe
Thanks for catching it red! was thinking of import-laden conferences. Edited it na. He's tied with Coach Dalupan in import-laden conferences.
no problem ser! nice post, btw
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