Cone hopeful Brownlee will be cleared to rejoin Gilas Pilipinas

COACH Tim Cone is hopeful Justin Brownlee will be cleared to rejoin Gilas Pilipinas in time for next month’s first assignments under his fresh tenure.

Even while they await Mr. Brownlee’s reinstatement after his suspension over a doping case in the Asian Games, Mr. Cone has tapped the three-time PBA Best Import to reinforce the 12-man core he assembled for the February kickoff window of FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers as well as those that come after.

“Justin Brownlee’s going to be our naturalized player if everything works out with FIBA,” Mr. Cone, who was appointed to the post Monday, said as he attended the PSA Awards Night at the Diamond Hotel.

“We’re hoping their (FIBA’s) decision will come down sometime this week and that it will hopefully free him up for the window on the 22nd,” he added, referring to Gilas’ opening duel with Hong Kong on the road which will be followed by a home showdown with Chinese-Taipei on Feb. 25.

Mr. Brownlee tested positive for a cannabis compound after Gilas’ celebrated gold medal win in the Asiad last Oct. 6. This effectively forced him out of the Gin Kings’ title defense and potentially the Nationals coming campaigns, pending expiration of the still-unknown period of suspension.

In FIBA’s latest penalty on cannabis use, USA’s Jordan Bell was slapped a three-month suspension for testing positive in the FIBA Americas World Cup qualifiers that expired last Aug. 23.

Under Mr. Cone’s war plan, Mr. Brownlee, PBA players Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez, Jamie Malonzo and June Mar Fajardo, Japan-based Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Kai Sotto and Carl Tamayo and collegiate star Kevin Quiambao will assemble first on Feb. 15 for the Hong Kong gig.

Mr. Edu, though, will miss this one due to knee injury but he’s expected to be good to go for the second window in April.

The “Gilas 12” will continue to train and play as a unit in all the other international competitions for the next four years, be it FIBA tournaments, SEA Games or Asian Games.

“We want to keep this team intact because everytime we play, we either will grow from success or failure. We’ll have kind of like a PBA or NBA or B-League team, where you keep a team together as much as you can and you try to get it to learn. Eventually you’ll grow it,” he said.

“We feel like each window will prepare us for the next window. And the idea is after three or four years of doing all these windows together and keeping the continuity going and having the same system, the same players should get to know each other better and better that they’ll reach their full potential by year three or year four.”

Mr. Cone is taking the reins on a long-term basis after previously accepting the job just for the Hangzhou conclave last September. Prior to that, he called the shots and steered the Pinoy dribblers to gold in the SEA Games at home and bronze in the 1998 Asiad in Thailand.

“I’m incredibly honored to be the holder of this position, it’s such a sacred position. We’ll try to develop a system in which we can satisfy all stakeholders and keep everybody moving in one direction,” he said. — Olmin Leyba