GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone expressed excitement about the Philippines’ coming stint in the FIBA Asia Cup, a little over four months from now in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“Our draw: NZ, Taiwan, Iraq. Can’t wait to get back with the Gilas guys and get back to work,” Cone said last Wednesday night on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
“All-Filipino first, but looking forward to the Asia Cup in August. We’ll be ready,” he added.
The Nationals were grouped with New Zealand and Chinese Taipei—their previous opponents in the qualifiers—after the drawing of lots last Tuesday night in Jeddah.
Completing the three quintets in Group D is Iraq.
While there’s still time to toughen up for the prestigious continental tourney formerly known as the ABC Championship and FIBA Asia Championship, there should be a lot of moving parts for Cone’s squad.
Main big man Kai Sotto is expected to sit out the Asia Cup that will run from Aug. 5 to 17 due to an ACL injury while naturalized star Justin Brownlee’s status is hanging.
The 6-foot-5 Brownlee received notice of an ‘adverse analytical finding’ late last month.
According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency, the finding is a result of a prohibited substance and normally constitutes a positive result.
“An AAF is a report from a WADA-accredited laboratory that identifies the presence of a prohibited substance and/or its metabolites or markers in a sample. This is commonly referred to as a positive test.”
Aside from confirming that Brownlee got the notice, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas is still tight-lipped on the possible fate of the endeared Ginebra import and national team leader.
Gilas, the Tall Blacks, and the Chinese clashed along with Hong Kong in Group B during the qualifiers.
New Zealand and Gilas emerged as the top two sides in the group and bagged outright slots to the main draw of the 16-team field.
Australia, Japan, and China lead their respective brackets.
The Boomers are with South Korea, Lebanon, and Qatar in Group A in what could be the toughest group in the tournament.
The Akatsuki Five were bunched in Group B together with Syria, Iran, and Guam that has San Miguel Beer guard Jericho Cruz.
China, India, the host country, and Jordan, bannered by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, are slotted in Group C.
Teams that will top their respective groups will earn outright quarterfinal slots, while the second and third sides to finish in each group will go through a crossover play-in to make it to the next round.
Gilas split its head-to-head matches with New Zealand and Chinese Taipei in the qualifiers after winning the first two, including a historic 93-89 victory over the Tall Blacks at the Mall of Asia Arena last November and a 106-53 dumping of the Chinese early last year.
But the Filipino dribblers suffered two straight losses in the third and final window of the qualifiers to Chinese Taipei 84-91 and to New Zealand 70-87.
But Cone has always been a brilliant tactician—he’ll find ways to make sure Gilas will not be a pushover in the Asia Cup.
