HEAD coach Tim Cone flew with an almost different team to Seoul for two tuneup games ahead of the Philippines’ defense of the men’s 5×5 basketball gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya 20th Asian Games.
He reserved one spot for Justin Brownlee.
‘We reserved a slot hoping that Justin Brownlee will join us as we play our tuneup games,’ Cone said.
Brownlee is recovering from various injuries and missed the FIBA 2027 World Cup Qualifiers games against Jordan and Iran during the weekend with Gilas Pilipinas winning both.
Cone brought with him only two holdovers from the team that played in the last FIBA Qualifiers window-Justin Arana Justine Baltazar-as well as RJ Abarrientos, who’s a regular on the national team coach’s roster.
The others are Adrian Nocum, Sedrick Barefield, Don Trollano, Brandon Bates, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Robert Bolick, Jerrick Ahanmisi and Zavier Lucero.
They will play in theE leHe lhe Hana Bank Invitational on Friday and Sunday at the Suwon KT Sonic Boom Arena before flying to Aichi.
The Philippines plays Bahrain on September 11, Kazakhstan on September 12 and China on September 14 in Group C action at the Aichi International Arena (IG Arena).
These Asian Games are unusually kicking off basketball competitions way ahead of the opening ceremony on September 19.
Also, the Asian Games are lenient on athlete qualification by barely basing their eligibility as passport holders of the countries they represent, unlike in the FIBA which is strict on a player having secured a country’s passport at 15 years old.