Room for two more?

Gilas coach Tim Cone has persistently resisted suggestions to expand the national pool but with Kai Sotto out for this FIBA Asia Cup cycle and a few glaring weaknesses exposed in the third qualifying window, will there be a change of heart? Cone’s rationale is there’s too little time to break in new players and learn his system between the end of the PBA season on July 27 at the latest and the start of the FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah on Aug. 5.

If at all, Cone might consider tapping Ginebra players who’re used to his approach. That’s why Troy Rosario was recruited to take over Sotto’s spot for the Doha International Cup and third qualifying window although he never played a game. At the moment, Cone’s pool consists of Justin Brownlee, AJ Edu, Sotto, June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Jamie Malonzo, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, Calvin Oftana, Dwight Ramos, Chirs Newsome, Mason Amos, Ange Kouame and Rosario. It’s a mix of young blood and experienced veterans with Aguilar, 38, Brownlee, 36, Fajardo, 35, Newsome, 34, Rosario, 33, Thompson, 31 and Perez, 31 the only players above 30.

In the Chinese-Taipei third qualifying window game last Feb. 20, Cone used nine players in a short rotation, sitting down Quiambao, Malonzo and Aguilar. In the New Zealand outing three days later, Quiambao started and Cone deployed his full complement of 12 without Amos and Rosario.

Against Chinese-Taipei, Gilas committed 17 turnovers and was outscored from three by five conversions or 15 points. Gilas lost by seven. Against New Zealand, Gilas knocked down six triples compared to the Tall Blacks’ 13, hit .625 from the line, was outrebounded by three and had four less assists. Gilas lost by 17.

From the third qualifying window, it appears that Gilas could use a bigger point guard and a deadly outside shooter from the wings to shore up the troops. For Jeddah, the pool will be down to 13 with Sotto out, Kouame unlikely to play with Brownlee in harness and Amos immersed in preparing for the UAAP season. That could open the door to try out two additional players. Cone might consider reviving his previous proposal of calling for practice every Monday during the coming Philippine Cup just to get things moving forward.

One possible recruit is 6-2 Jordan Heading who played for Gilas in the 2020 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers, 2021 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Serbia and 2021 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers. Heading, 29, averaged 10.2 points in six Gilas outings and is a big guard who’s a lights-out shooter, a tough defender and heady quarterback. The other possibility is 6-4 Arvin Tolentino who played for Cone at the last SEA and Asian Games where Gilas won gold. He also played for Cone at Ginebra. Tolentino, 29, is a crack perimeter gunner, fights for rebounds, knows the triangle and can operate off a pick-and-roll or pop. Why not bring in Heading and Tolentino to the Gilas pool?