Cone rues Sotto’s absence

MANILA, Philippines —  As crushing the absence of ACL-hit Kai Sotto is, Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone sees a lot to look forward to when the Nationals reconvene next month.

For one, Cone is thrilled to finally have big man AJ Edu on board for the Feb. 14 to 16 pocket tournament in Qatar and the succeeding final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers on the road against Chinese Taipei (Feb. 20) and New Zealand (Feb. 23) after missing the entire 2024 campaign due to knee issues.

Then there’s athletic wing Jamie Malonzo, who’s returning to the fold after being sidelined by calf injury last April.

And there’s young forward Carl Tamayo, whom Cone expects to carry his hot form in the Korean league over to the Gilas program, as well as Kevin Quiambao, who assured his presence after recovering quickly from ankle injury.

“We’re not going to have a lot of prep time for the FIFA Asia (tournament proper) in August so we’re going to use this trip and this window as a chance to prepare the group,” said Cone, whose crew has already booked their ticket to the Continental meet with a 4-0 sweep of the first two windows of the Qualifiers.

Except for the 7-foot-3 Sotto, it’s all hands on deck for Cone’s 14-man team, including Sotto’s replacement Japeth Aguilar and newly-named alternate Troy Rosario.

“We’ll be missing Kai but the good news is we’re going to have AJ, we’re going to have Jamie back and we’re hoping he continues to round into form in terms of his game,” said Cone.