IN GOD WE TRUST
Gilas revamp
PLAGUE by series of injuries, players’ availability and dream chaser. Gilas Pilipinas’ Tim Cone has no choice but to give in to the long-time clamour of revising the current team roster.
SPORTS
By Roberto “Bobby” Rondez
6/23/20262 min read
PLAGUE by series of injuries, players’ availability and dream chaser. Gilas Pilipinas’ Tim Cone has no choice but to give in to the long-time clamour of revising the current team roster.
With the FIBA World Cup third Asian qualifying window due next week, Gilas visits the New Zealand Tall Blacks and the Australian Boomers in their homecourt, Auckland and Sydney, respectively. The Nationals. going into this phase with 4-2 win-loss record, The twin defeat were inflicted by the Tall Blacks and the Boomers during the second window. Gilas need to win at least one, or better yet two.
Cone is aware that a couple of defeat would send the Nationals deeper into a must win situation against the middle eastern teams, in the likes of Lebanon, Jordan,Iran,Saudi Arabia, Iraq and host Qatar. But on the contrary, the Gilas mentor is more keen on meeting the said squads, saying that they have better chance of winning to be able to qualify outright in the tournament.
Since 2014 and the launching of the Gilas program, the country have been a consistent qualifier of the FIBA World Cup and even hosted the prestigious tournament twice in 1975 and 2023.
Previously, coach Tim might have secretly yielded to the idea of expanding the pool of players from his regular 12-man line up to 18 with inclusion of six more able bodies into the team roster.
As the imminent expected to happen, Tim’s point-man Scottie Thompson is out of the line-up after re-injuring his back during Ginebra’s championship run tin the last PBA Governors’ Cup and will be placed by last minute replacement, Juan Perez de Leano of Converge FiberExer.
Leano is going to be backed up by another Gin Kings. in R.J Abbarientos, who had a fine season helping Ginebra to its seventh PBA titles,under Cone.
Another injury prone, Quintin Milliora Brown, who is also sustained a back injury he incurred while play in the Japan B-League. And stepping his spot is PBA eight-time PBA MVP in Junmar Fajardo. who will a supported by another FiberExer all around player in Justine Baltazar, who played for Gilas under Tab Baldwin.
Gilas’ veteran slotman Japeth Aguilar, who hanged his Gilas jersey last year and retired from international competition, is to replace by a younger and reliable perimeter man in Michael Philips, who also don the Gilas jersey wherein help the nationals regained the SEA Games Gold medal during the 2024 Cambodia meet.
Gilas’ own 7-3 power slotman Kai Sotto is out of the lineup in this coming window, while he chases his long cherish NBA dream, as he hope to play in the NBA Summer League, coinciding the FIBA third window qualifying round. Sotto promised and expressed his availability in the last and final window.
And the rest of the Gilas lineup for the this window are; naturalised Justine Brownlee, Dwight Ramos, Cris Newsome, Carl Tamayo Kevin Quiambao, E.J Edu, C.J Perez and Troy Rosario.
This corner. would like to offer my sincerest condolences to our Gilas News Editor-in-chief Danny “Don” Simon, whose father-in-law passed away few days ago. Internment will be in his hometown province in Sorsogon.
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Editor-In-Chief: Danny Simon
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