MANILA, Philippines — While there’s got to be no rest for Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone following the national team’s two-game home sweep of its fourth round of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers, the American is locked in as he now trains his sights to help the country defend its Asian Games men’s cage title.
Cone will be bringing a new all-PBA national squad, with only RJ Abarrientos, along with big men Justin Arana and Justine Baltazar as holdovers from the Gilas squad that scored confidence-building victories over West Asia guants Jordan and Iran over the weekend June Mar Fajardo is definitely out of the Asian Games as he declared officially his retirement from Gilas moments after the Philippines rammed Iran, 68-56 Sunday night before a jampacked SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“They’ve been practicing through this whole window action with Richard (del Rosario), Jong (Uichico) and Josh (Reyes),” Cone said Sunday, referring to the Gilas squad preparing for the Asiad. “They’ve been doing two teams a day so that allowed me to stay locked in on the window.” As new faces comprise the Gilas squad bound for Aichi-Nagoya, Japan for the Asiad, Cone is hopeful that naturalized player Justin Brownlee can be healthy enough to rejoin the team.
“We’ve opened up a spot for Justin. We’ll see if he ends up showing up,” said Cone, who has said in recent past that Brownlee has been his “security blanket”, having won multiple PBA championships with the four-time PBA Best Import, while riding on his hot shooting that led to the Philippines’ Asian Games men’s basketball title conquest in Hangzhou, China in 2023.
The 38-year-old Brownlee has missed the national team’s last three FIBA games due to multiple injuries on his leg, knee and hamstring.
“We’re hoping there’s a chance for Brownlee. We heard that Justin might come in. It’s not confirmed. But he’s intending to come, that we know of,” said Cone.
The long-time Barangay Ginebra import remains Gilas’ go-to naturalized player as Bennie Boatwright has not secured his Philippine passport yet despite the fact that House Bill 6639 has been approved by the Senate on third and final reading weeks back.
With the passport-only rule by the Asiad organizers, Gilas could have fielded Brownlee and Boatwright, or Ange Kouame.
But that may not materialize at all, with Kouame, the 6-11 former Ateneo big man now under contract in a basketball club in France.- Gilad though is leaving by Wednesday and heads to Seoul to play two friendly matches against the Korean national team, scheduled on Friday and Sunday.
From there, the Philippines will head to Nagoya for the Asian Games.
