It all began with promise. When Tim Cone took over as head coach of Gilas Pilipinas, optimism surged around the program. The winning-most tactician in PBA history steered the Philippines to its first Asian Games basketball gold medal in six decades, instantly restoring belief in the national team's direction.
That momentum carried into a successful 2024, as Gilas swept the first two windows of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers and turned heads on the global stage, most notably with a breakthrough win over Latvia while standing toe-to-toe with Georgia and Brazil in the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. For a stretch, it felt like the program had rediscovered its edge.
But the narrative shifted when Kai Sotto went down with an ACL injury, sidelining the team's most impactful local presence. Gilas stumbled to a winless third window in the Asia Cup qualifiers and looked far less formidable even as they managed a quarterfinal finish in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.
The doubts have only grown in the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers. After opening with expected victories over Guam, the team absorbed sobering home losses to New Zealand and Australia in the second window.
And now, the pressing question looms: Is Gilas merely navigating growing pains, or is there a deeper issue with the team's direction under Cone? Let's take a deeper dive.
Can the triangle offense work without Sotto?
The triangle offense is built on structure, spacing, and reads -- but most importantly, it functions better with a reliable post anchor. For Gilas, Sotto was supposed to be that centerpiece. As the low-block option, he triggered the triangle's inside-out flow: drawing double teams, facilitating from the pinch post, and giving the weakside two-man game space to operate.
In its pure form, the triangle thrives when the ball touches the paint early. That post entry collapses the defense, opens split cuts on the strong side, and frees shooters on the weakside exchange. Without a consistent interior threat, those reads become stagnant. The ball sticks. The cuts lose timing. Instead of flowing outward from the block, possessions often begin and end on the perimeter.
The Philippines have tried to replicate the system with Quentin Millora-Brown as the centerpiece. Millora-Brown is an able passer and can execute dribble handoffs, but the scoring threat of Sotto offers a more dynamic option that is harder to defend. The system with QMB at the heart has not opened up easier opportunities for Gilas' other scorers like Dwight Ramos, Kevin Quiambao, and Juan Gomez De Liano to get going
The result has been a triangle that looks incomplete. Rather than functioning as a read-and-react system, it has leaned heavily on Justin Brownlee to create advantages off the dribble. Brownlee is capable of operating from the pinch post or mid-post areas, but the burden has shifted from systemic creation to individual shot-making.
Statistically, the dip is evident. Gilas finished 10th in scoring in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup, at 78.8 points per game, and managed only 66 points on 33.3% shooting in consecutive losses in the recent window. Those numbers reflect more than cold shooting; they point to a system struggling to generate rhythm shots within its design.
There have been attempts to adjust. Gilas has mixed motion principles to better integrate perimeter players and compensate for the lack of a dominant post facilitator. At times, the added movement has created better spacing and quicker decisions, evidenced by CJ Perez's performance against New Zealand. But toggling between triangle structure and free-flow motion has also produced stretches of hesitation, whereby players appear caught between reading the system and reacting instinctively.
At this level of international basketball, identity matters. Whether it's a refined triangle tailored to their current personnel, or a full commitment to motion, Gilas needs a unified offensive framework moving forward. Because without cohesion and clarity, even elite shot-makers like Brownlee will continue to face uphill battles possession after possession.
Roster construction with no shooting
Beyond system execution, there is a separate but connected issue: Does the roster's overall makeup maximize the triangle's demands -- particularly in stretching the defense? The offense is designed to generate inside-out looks, but it still requires perimeter efficiency to keep help defenders honest. That has not been the case in the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Gilas is shooting just 25.2% from beyond the arc, the worst percentage in the competition. That doesn't just reflect missed shots; it changes how opponents defend the entire structure. Teams are more willing to sag off the weakside, dig down on post entries, and crowd driving lanes, because the kick-out punishment hasn't consistently materialized.
Individually, the shooting struggles further highlight the imbalance. Asian imports like Ramos and Quiambao are shooting just 11.8% and 16.7% from beyond the arc respectively, while PBA players Juan Gomez de Liano and Calvin Ofana have converted only 26.7% and 28.6% of their field goal attempts overall.
Perhaps the most glaring case is Oftana. In the PBA, he is widely regarded as a knockdown shooter -- someone defenses must chase off the line. But that efficiency has not translated in the international setting. Whether it's the shorter closeouts, physicality, or rhythm within the system, the expected floor-spacing impact simply hasn't materialized.
When the primary perimeter options are struggling at that rate, the triangle's spacing principles inevitably collapse. Defenses can tag cutters more aggressively, stunt at Brownlee's drives, and crowd the strong side without fully committing to hard rotations.
At some point, this becomes a structural conversation.
It may be time to add more consistent shooting threats to the pool -- players whose gravity alone can bend coverage. At the same time, simplifying the offense could help to unlock Ramos, Quiambao, and even Carl Tamayo in particular -- with all three players being versatile scorers who thrive when playing decisively in space. Giving them clearer reads and more straightforward actions -- instead of layered, read-heavy sequences -- could allow their natural scoring instincts to surface.
If the triangle is to remain the foundation, it must either be supported by reliable perimeter efficiency or be streamlined enough to maximize the strengths of the current roster. Otherwise, the numbers and the stagnation will continue to tell the same story.