A POSSIBLE stint in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 prompted former San Miguel Beer import Bennie Boatwright to agree to be a naturalized player for Gilas Pilipinas.
“When we’re talking about it, his eyes just light up when he talks about the national team,” Nationals coach Tim Cone said. “He’s from Los Angeles and our big goal is to be in the LA Olympics in 2028.
“That’s when he found out that he was like ‘Oh man, can you imagine playing in front of my family for the Philippines and the Olympics. So, he’s really excited about it,” he added.
While waiting for the long and arduous naturalization process to be completed, Cone said the 6-foot-10, former USC Trojan will serve as Justin Brownlee’s back-up, like what the latter did to NBA star Jordan Clarkson in the FIBA World Cup last year.
“At this point, Benny is Justin to Jordan. When we had Jordan Clarkson, Justin was his backup,” Cone said. “Now, we got Justin and Benny as the backup and Benny will eventually move into that spot.”
The Philippine five is set to do battle in the Olympic qualifying tournament from July 2 to 7 in Latvia.
Brownlee is expected to team up with reigning seven-time MVP June Mar Fajardo and former winner Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo, Kai Sotto, and Kevin Quiambao, and alternates Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos.
With 6-foot-7 forward Jamie Malonzo out for the OQT due to a recent calf injury operation, Cone is set to name either Aguilar or Amos as replacement.
The Filipino cagers, ranked 37th, must finish in the top two of their group to reach the crossover semifinals against the top two of Group B, which includes No. 12 Brazil, No. 17 Montenegro, and No. 67 Cameroon.
The winners of the crossover semis will duke it out for the lone slot in the Olympics set for July in the French capital.
Cone only has good words for Boatwright.
“Benny’s a great player. I wish he was on our team so we could teach him more of the system. One thing that makes Justin so good is that he’s been in our system for seven years, so he wears the system on him, I mean it’s just like he’s wearing a suit of his system,” Cone said.
“He knows it so well and knows how to move within it and that’s why he plays at such a high level and so that’s our big advantage at this point right now.
“But Justin’s 35 years old, he’s going to be 39 in the next World Cup, and you know, we don’t know what kind of level he’s going to be able to play at and that’s where Benny comes in and he’s a tremendous talent. He’s like three or four inches taller than Justin. He’s athletic for his size and man, he is a lights-out shooter.”
