AFTER a commendable—and even brave—tour of duties with the national team, Japeth Aguilar and June Mar Fajardo can now perhaps hang up their Gilas Pilipinas jerseys.
The world governing body for basketball, FIBA, has reclassified the status of 6-foot-10 big man Quentin Millora-Brown from naturalized to a local, which should pave the way for the finesse center to finally realize his dream of donning the country’s tri-colors.
“The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas confirms that Quentin Millora-Brown is now classified as a local player under the FIBA map (Management and Administration Platform),” the Philippines’ cage body said in a statement over the weekend.
National coach Tim Cone was elated no end with the development.
“He’s a 6-10 KQ in terms of how and what it means to the program,” Cone said last Saturday on the Power and Play program hosted by former pro league Commissioner Noli Eala. “We have a guy to slot in right there. As much as we have this program that we put together, this team that we put together.
“We have not had Kai and AJ on the team at the same time in practice,” he added.
With Aguilar already 38 years old and Fajardo, the reigning eight-time PBA MVP at 35, having young big men like 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo, and Millora-Brown can work wonders for the Philippine five moving forward from a quarterfinal exit in the recent FIBA Asia Cup.
“We get the opportunity to have that happen in the near future,” Cone said. “Then, you add QMB to that. That’s something that we can really work off. I’m excited about it.”
The Washington, D.C.-born and Virginia-raised Millora-Brown, 24, had already fulfilled one of his long-cherished goals of seeing action in a one-and-done season with the University of the Philippines—his grandfather’s alma mater.
Now it’s time for flag and country.
