Romeo will look to help Cone and Gilas win gold in the Asian Games.
Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone has handled some of the PBA's best guards, including his assistant coach in the national team, LA Tenorio, and his presumptive starting point guard at Gilas, Scottie Thompson.
But the best among them is arguably Johnny Abarrientos—and that is saying a lot because Cone also coached Jojo Lastimosa, Peter June Simon, James Yap, and the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel duo of Mark Caguioa and JayJay Helterbrand.
So, when Coach Tim says someone is a lot like The Flying A, then that’s saying a lot as well.
And that’s exactly the kind of high praise Cone just gave one Terrence Bill Romeo, a combo guard he is coaching for the first time ever.
“Terrence is... I've said it before, he's a revelation,” Cone told One News PH’s The Big Story on Friday.
“It's one thing to coach against a guy, but to actually see him every day in practice… I coached Johnny Abarrientos for years, and I could never explain to everybody what Johnny Abarrientos was like because they only saw him in games,” Cone continued. “But they didn't see him day-to-day in practice and the things he would do every day that would just blow your socks off. That's kind of what we're seeing with Terrence. He's coming in and he's blowing our socks off in practice. He's been a revelation.”
Of course, PBA fans probably have an idea of how special Romeo is, having watched him do some pretty incredible things on the basketball court throughout his career. Then again, there’s nothing like seeing The Bro Show up close and personal—and on a day-to-day basis.
Now, it appears Cone has a more nuanced appreciation of what Romeo can do—specifically for Gilas and its pursuit of a medal in the Asian Games.
“He is incredibly talented and he's quiet, but he knows how to put the ball in the hoop,” added Cone about The Bro.
Best believe Cone will be calling Romeo’s number a lot in Hangzhou.