With the FIBA Asia Cup just around the corner and a depleted roster, Gilas coach Tim Cone is forced to beef up his team with four additional players.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Gilas Pilipinas is just beginning its preparations for a major FIBA tournament while its opponents are already deep in training.
This is the predicament facing Tim Cone and his Gilas pool less than a month before the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 reels off in Jeddah. Cone called for an initial practice on Monday, but it was more of a meeting with no actual practice runs, as many players in the pool are still busy with PBA duties, while others are still out of the country.
“We just met and talked about how we can organize, and I feel really disorganized at this point,” Cone told a group of reporters after the meeting. “You know, not everybody’s here and I got guys who are playing the game of their lives (Sunday) night.”
He was referring to that epic Game 6 between Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and San Miguel Beer that went down to the wire and ended with LA Tenorio’s game-winning triple. With both teams set for a Game 7, their players in the Gilas pool opted not to work out.
The Beermen’s CJ Perez and Ginebra players Japeth Aguilar, Jamie Malonzo, Troy Rosario, and RJ Abarrientos were present, but June Mar Fajardo and Scottie Thompson skipped the meeting to rest. Resident naturalized player Justin Brownlee is still recovering from hand surgery, while center AJ Edu is still out of the country.
“It’s just hard to get ourselves organized at this point,” added Cone. “We will get organized as it goes along. But right now, this was just the first step, a baby step of coming together, of who was available, and there was no real court time that we were planning.”
Only Japan-based Dwight Ramos and Carl Tamayo, and Meralco Bolts captain and soon-to-be-married Chris Newsome put in some shots.
“It’s the first time getting together, so we’re just all trying to get on the same page,” said Ramos, who actually hasn’t played since the Japan league’s season ended in May. “Most of the PBA guys, they were playing yesterday, so they couldn’t be on the court. It’s just me, Carl, and Chris over here just shooting around.
“The other teams are already practicing. (Chinese Taipei) is playing the Jones Cup over there. We haven’t practiced yet, so we’re going to be playing catch-up. We just have to work harder and get there and be as well-prepared as we can.”
Gilas will open its FIBA Asia Cup campaign on August 5 against Chinese Taipei. Also in their group are New Zealand and Iraq, and between now and then, getting everyone up to speed is the main challenge.
“We got some guys like Dwight and Carl who played their last game in May. And so they’re not in shape, really game shape. We’ve got guys that are overseas (Kevin Quiambao, currently trying to make an NBA Summer League roster). So, trying to find the balance there is going to be difficult.
“We’re trying to get extra time for them to meet with the trainers and Sean (Chambers) and Coach Jong (Uichico) and get some time with them. They’re doing their own workouts. I think Carl’s working out with UP a lot, and Dwight is jumping around at different gyms. Remember, Justin hasn’t played for a couple of months as he’s been rehabbing his hand. So we got to get him in here and get him in shape. Same with AJ.
“We’re trying to secure gyms and availability, weight rooms and stuff, for guys like Carl and Dwight. New’s (Chris Newsome) getting married on the 11th, so that’s one of the issues we have with Newsome is that he’s getting married, so he has a bunch of people in town for the wedding. It’s a big production, so he’s going to be in and out as well as this goes along.”
New additions
Abarrientos’ presence raised some eyebrows, and when asked about it, Cone said they were required to submit a so-called long list to the FIBA Asia Cup organizers. Aside from Abarrientos and Rosario, Rhenz Abando and Zavier Lucero were also included.
“He’s part of our long list,” Cone said of Abarrientos, who was a member of Gilas during the tenure of Tab Baldwin in the early 2020s. “Troy is part of our long list. We added a couple guys to our long list. We actually added Lucero, but he’s in the States at the moment.
“And we added Rhenz Abando, but I think Rhenz is in Taiwan (for the Jones Cup). But we needed to add a couple guys on the list just to make sure.”
Rosario was actually in the last Gilas pool for the February window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup qualifiers, but withdrew after injuring his leg.
Abando, the high-leaping, crowd-pleasing forward who also took the Korean league by storm, was a member of the Gilas team at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
Lucero made a strong impression during Magnolia’s Philippine Cup run, but his status for FIBA tournaments is still up in the air.
“The SBP is checking that out now, but he has handed in all of his paperwork,” Cone said. “They’re checking that out now. We think he is (eligible), but not until we get full disclosure will we know for sure.”
The next few weeks will shape the Gilas roster, with Cone keeping his options open on who will get the call to go to Jeddah.
“The 12 we’re bringing is not written in stone. We could make some minute changes, but RJ’s certainly a candidate. Troy’s a candidate. We’ll see what happens as we move forward. But they’re here, yeah, and they’re part of the long list that we have. Just in case something happens.”
Banner images from FIBA