Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/file

MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone is sticking with his current program and pool despite absorbing losses in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers and 2nd Doha International Cup.

Cone emphasized the need to stay with the current stack, although they are suffering from the absence of their star center, Kai Sotto, who sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in Koshigaya Alphas' game in the Japan B.League earlier this year.

READ: 'Might be the darkest day of my career': Kai Sotto suffers torn ACL

The men's national basketball team had a recent tough stretch on the road, absorbing defeats at the hands of Chinese Taipei and New Zealand to conclude the qualifiers at 4-2.

Before the qualifying window, they went 1-2 in the Doha tournament. After asserting dominance against home country Qatar, Gilas lost to Egypt and Lebanon in the Doha pocket tourney.

"At this point, no. We're not going to add to the pool, we're not going to subtract from the pool, unless there's guys out there that don't want to join us anymore," Cone told reporters after his PBA team, Barangay Ginebra, took the semis opener against NorthPort on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.

READ: FIBA: Gilas Pilipinas turned back by New Zealand, ends qualifiers at 4-2

READ: FIBA: Gilas Pilipinas falls short vs Chinese Taipei

Cone bared that there could be logistical issues that might transpire in case they expand the Gilas pool.

"It's not easy to pull somebody out, you know, or add to the pool or get a bigger pool. You know, there's finances involved, there's budget, there's extra travel time, more practice time," the PBA's winningest coach said.

"It's not as simple as just saying, 'okay, now we're going to go to 15, 18 or 20 people.' It's not that simple. And we came in with a program and we're going to stick to that program as much as we can," he added.