GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone is bracing for a tough Bahrain side when the national team begins its title-retention bid against the tiny West Asian squad on Friday in the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Reports that came out on Tuesday noted that the Bahrain national squad will be reinforced by four naturalized players, something that was not lost at all for Cone, who’ll be handling a PBA-backed Gilas team for the quadrennial games.
“That’s what we are planning for,” Cone said, when asked about the four naturalized players that Bahrain has tapped for the Asian Games.
“But we are waiting for the technical committee meeting to see the official lineup.”
The GDN Online website mentioned that resident JaKarr Sampson will be part of the Bahrain squad for the Asian Games, along with reinforcements Uros Ilic, a 6-10 big man, who hails from Serbia, Elijah Thomas, a 6-9 forward who played for Clemson and Texas A&M in college, and recently played professionally for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, as well as wingman Austin Ajukwa.
Among the four, the 7-foot Sampson is expected to provide the inside presence for the team, given his size and immense basketball experience, having played in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Chicago Bulls, the Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers, despite going undrafted in 2014.
Gilas has its own problems to handle in its preparations for the Asian Games.
Aside from getting manhandled twice after lopsided losses at the hands of the Korean national team in the invitational games over the weekend, Cone already confirmed that naturalized player Justin Brownlee won’t join Gilas to fill in the 12th and final spot.
“Justin will not join us,” said Cone.
And even though Cone mentioned they were hopeful that 7-foot-3 Filipino big man Kai Sotto could have filled in that vacant 12th spot, that won’t materialize after all.
“We were hoping Kai would join us as our 12th man, and he wanted to come, but like his counterparts in Japan and Korea, he was prohibited to join,” Cone told The Manila Times.
Sotto’s bid to return to play in Japan looks rosy when Korean gunner Lee Hyunjung signed an Exhibit 10 NBA contract with the Portland Trail Blazers, leaving an Asian quota import spot open for the Filipino big man.
Cone said TNT dead shot Calvin Oftana is filling in the 12th and final spot for the national team in the Asian Games.
The sweet-shooting Oftana is expected to arrive and join the national team on Wednesday in Japan.
“Calvin Oftana is stepping in as our 12th man. He is arriving this [Wednesday] afternoon, we hope in time to make our practice schedule today,” Cone told The Manila Times.
