One team
Gilas Pilipinas spent Monday preparing both the team that will compete in this weekend’s fourth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers and the squad for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games by having them face each other in a tuneup game.
The scrimmage was held at the Mall of Asia Arena, where coach Tim Cone and the rest of the “Window Team” also took part in a press conference ahead of the crucial matches against Jordan and Iran before a hometown crowd.
“We’re just trying to get as much experience and time together,” Cone said, as Gilas is set to play the window with an all-Filipino squad after ruling out naturalized player Justin Brownlee.
It was the second tuneup for the Fiba team after it defeated Korean side Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus last Thursday, a game in which Cone felt there was plenty of room for improvement.
14 Players
He echoed the same sentiments after facing the Asiad team.
“We’re not as good as we want to be at this point,” said Cone. “We need to be better, we feel. And that included the game against Korea and included the game today. We’re still trying to find the best version of ourselves.
“But we still got a few more days, and we’re still trying to lock in and get a feel for everybody,” he added.
Brownlee was supposed to arrive before the start of the buildup, but Cone said he “doesn’t feel like he’s really healthy enough to contribute,” given that he missed Gilas’ last game against Australia in the third window and did not serve as Barangay Ginebra’s import in the PBA Governors’ Cup owing to injuries to his knee, hamstring and leg.
That leaves Cone with 14 players to choose from in his pool, including the returning Kai Sotto, Scottie Thompson and CJ Perez, and new addition Justin Arana of Converge.
“It’s a huge pressure for us,” Sotto said. “But that’s the pressure that we need. Since the start of practice, we’ve been improving. And as long as we help each other and we trust each other, we’ll get what we want.”
The rest of the players vying for a spot in the 12-man lineup for Friday and Sunday are Dwight Ramos, Juan Gomez de Liano, Kevin Quiambao, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo, Chris Newsome, Troy Rosario, Justine Baltazar, RJ Abarrientos and June Mar Fajardo, who is likely to play his final games for the national team.
Mostly PBA
Meanwhile, the tuneup was something the Asian Games team sorely needed before heading to Japan for the defense of the gold it won three years ago in China.
Cone has let Del Rosario, Josh Reyes and Jong Uichico handle the Asiad squad while he focuses on Gilas, with a completely different roster composed mostly of PBA players.
NLEx’s Robert Bolick and Blackwater’s Sedrick Barefield are among the prominent players who could don the Gilas jersey for the quadrennial meet set Sept. 10 to 20.
“The real purpose of the tuneup game is really to get each other ready. You know, getting the Asian Games team prepared for a fast-paced game. Because the Asian Games team is a really quicker team,” Del Rosario said.
“The composition of the Asian Games team is different. And then for the window team to prepare the Asian Games team for the size. With Kai and June Mar and AJ there. So it’s really about helping each other.
“We always tell the players, we’re not the Asian Games team and the Fiba window team. We’re one team. So it’s really about getting each other better.”
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