MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone knows Justin Brownlee all too well to guarantee that the naturalized Pinoy would be one “super motivated” player in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Cone expects Brownlee to use Gilas’ home assignments against New Zealand on Nov. 21 and Hong Kong on Nov. 24 as a platform for redemption after his disappointing stint in Barangay Ginebra’s numbing 2-4 defeat to TNT in the PBA Governors’ Cup finals.
“Justin is motivated to bounce back so I’m looking forward to that. And when I have a motivated Justin, watch out,” Cone said as he, team manager Richard del Rosario, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio and executive director Erika Dy discussed the coming window in a presscon yesterday.
Cone believes the weeklong breather in between the PBA finals loss and start of the Gilas training camp tomorrow should be enough to get JB back in his groove.
“We’ve seen him highly motivated in the past and what he could do so I don’t think anybody has anything to fear about Justin Brownlee. He’ll be ready, he’ll be raring to go and I think he’s going to put up some really nice performances for the country coming up,” he added.
Cone called up a 15-man pool for the two matches set at the MOA Arena.
Regulars Scottie Thompson, June Mar Fajardo, Calvin Oftana, Chris Newsome, CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto, Carl Tamayo, Jamie Malonzo, AJ Edu and Kevin Quiambao and backups Japeth Aguilar, Mason Amos and Ivorian-born naturalized player Ange Kouame will be with Brownlee.
Malonzo hasn’t fully recovered from his calf injury and won’t make it to the NZ and HK games yet. Edu, according to Cone, is doubtful after suffering a knee injury last week in Japan. Sotto is undergoing concussion protocols but Del Rosario said Gilas is keeping its fingers crossed that the 7-foot-3 slotman will be cleared in time for the games.
Generally, Cone feels good about the Nationals’ chances against the higher-ranked Tall Blacks.
“They’re the 22nd ranked team in the world, that’s higher than the Georgia team (No. 24) we played in the OQT (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament). They’re a tough, tough team, a physical team and that’s something we’re going to have to be conscious of,” he said.
“But I don’t think they’ve seen a team like what we’ve assembled before. I think we got a shot at beating them. We want to certainly protect our homecourt and show ourselves to our fans…I really expect us to be ready and motivated to play.”