HEAD coach Tim Cone trusts his team that well that he’s confidence level remains high with an all-Filipino lineup with naturalized player Justin Brownlee recovering from injuries.
‘It’s going to give more opportunity for guys like Kevin Quiambao and Carl Tamayo to step up and get major minutes,’ said Cone two days before Gilas Pilipinas plays with a home court advantage against Jordan on Friday at 7:30pm at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in the fourth window of the FIBA 2027 World Cup Asia Qualifiers.
‘And for Dwight Ramos to be more of a go-to-guy,’ added Cone whose wards face Iran next on Sunday in the same venue.
‘So, you lose someone, but that means other people get opportunities and we are going to try to take advantage of those opportunities,’ he said. ‘We believe that we have the right people capable of filling the slot.’
Besides Quiambao, Tamayo, Ramos and CJ Perez, 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto is back to man the paint with 6-foot-11 AJ Edu, June Mar Fajardo, Troy Rosario, Justine Baltazar and Justin Arana.
Ramos was the second leading scorer in the last six World Cup Qualifiers matches with a 13.5-point average highlighted by his 18 points in a 102-106 double overtime loss to New Zealand last July 3 in Auckland.
Quiambao is averaging 9.2 per contest in World Cup qualifiers and delivered a valuable 23 points also against New Zealand, while Tamayo posted 17 points against New Zealand although he averages 5.2 points per game.
Also in Cone’s 14-player pool are Juan Gomez de Liaño, Chris Newsome, Scottie Thompson and RJ Abarrientos.
The Philippines is 2-4 win-loss in Group E of the qualifiers behind undefeated Australia (6-0), Iran (5-1), Jordan (5-1), New Zealand (4-2) and Syria (2-4).