GILAS Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone expects the Filipino players to make the necessary adjustments as FIBA rules will apply for the two road games in the third window of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers this July.
“It’s the same thing when we’re going to FIBA rules in the windows. The calls are little bit different but our players just have to learn to adjust and not lock in to that, but just keep playing the next play,” Cone said.
The American mentor understands that his national players are coming from different leagues. While most of the players see action in the Philippine Basketball Association, there are those who play in the Japan B. League and the Korean Basketball League.
This is also why Cone wanted the Philippine men’s basketball team to spend more time in Brisbane for the training camp since he wanted the national players to stay locked in and be reacquainted with the FIBA system.
“That’s what’s important, these are what we try to preach,” he added.
The team left for Brisbane, Australia last Tuesday for the training camp but will be heading to Wellington in New Zealand to play the Manawatu Jets on Sunday in a friendly game.
Come Tuesday, Gilas Pilipinas will face the Franklin Bulls in another friendly match, as part of its final preparation before its much-awaited clash with the New Zealand Tall Blacks on July 3 in Auckland.
The Jets and the Bulls are professional teams competing in the New Zealand National Basketball League.
“(The) Brisbane Bullets are helping us out in terms of lending their facilities to us. So we’re going to take full advantage of it and try to acclimate to the (cold) weather,” said Cone.
Naturalized Filipino Justin Brownlee will again lead the team in the two road games against New Zealand and Australia.
He will get support from RJ Abarrientos, Chris Newsome, June Mar Fajardo, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao and Dwight Ramos.
Also playing for the Philippine team are Mike Phillips, Justine Baltazar, Troy Rosario and Juan Gomez de Liano, who came in to replace the injured Scottie Thompson.
This marks the first time the 6-foot-8 Phillips will be suiting up for Gilas Pilipinas as a local player after he was reclassified by FIBA, the world governing basketball body.
Phillips first suited up for Gilas Pilipinas during the 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh where the Philippines regained the basketball gold after beating host nation Cambodia in the finals.
Phillips and Baltazar were tapped as replacements for Kai Sotto and Quentin Millora-Brown, who will not be seeing action in the third window.
Sotto is set to parcipate in the 2026 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and Millora-Brown is still recuperating from an injury.
