TIM Cone tapped someone so familiar to him from the past and made him a part of the Gilas Pilipinas coaching staff.
The champion coach got the services of former PBA Best Import Sean Chambers to become one of his deputies with the national team which is now in Europe for the upcoming Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Chambers and the rest of the Gilas crew arrived in Turkey early Wednesday to play a pair of friendlies.
With Cone just having Jong Uichico as his assistant in the absence of Josh Reyes and LA Tenorio, the veteran coach reached out to the 59-year-old Chambers, who played his entire PBA career playing for his former coach with the Alaska franchise.
"We just looked around and said we're short," said Cone, noting Tenorio is busy doing a lot of duties with Barangay Ginebra, while Reyes is with the Gilas Pilipinas U-17 team for the FIBA U-17 Basketball World Cup in Istanbul.
Sponsored content: Another lead assistant in Richard Del Rosario has since become a full-time team manager of Gilas.
"Sean came at the last minute. He stepped in. He played with me for 13 years, he knows me personally as well as anybody I've ever met."
Chambers won six championships with Alaska as import from 1989 to 2001, including a grand slam in the 1996 season.
He was the only recipient of the league's Mr. 100 percent award in 1991 - with Norman Black as the first awardee - when the Aces won their first ever championship, and won Best Import award when the proud organization completed a rare season sweep five years later.
Chambers' no. 20 jersey was eventually retired by the franchise.
Sponsored content: Early this year, the Los Angeles, California native returned to the country after accepting the head coaching job at Far Eastern University.
Being currently based in the Philippines made it simpler for Chambers to join the Gilas coaching staff on short notice.
"We begged him and we begged FEU. Thank goodness, he said yes and FEU said yes," said Cone.
Chambers played for more than a decade suiting up for Cone that the coach believes he could be of help for Gilas players to instantly adopt the intricacies of the Triangle Offense.
"He knows our system, he knows the Triangle, so he's just the perfect guy," said the Gilas coach. "And if you have been around him, he's one of the most valuable people around you." (RG)
