AJ Edu formally gets the chance to play for Gilas Pilipinas under Tim Cone as the national team battles Qatar at the start of the 2nd Doha International Cup.
The game against the host team set at 1:30 a.m. Saturday (Manila time) at the University of Qatar, marks the first time Cone will see the 6-foot-10 Edu play his system since taking over the Gilas program late in 2023.
Edu was with the Gilas team that arrived in Doha Thursday night after a 10-hour flight from Manila.
READ Gilas Pilipinas pulls off thrilling comeback against Qatar
The 25-year-old Edu was supposed to suit up for the Philippine team in the second leg of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers at home last November, but a minor knee injury he suffered in the B. League before going home prevented him from being lined up by the coaching staff.
“It wasn’t a major injury but if it had been the FIBA Asia Cup or the World Cup, he probably could have done it,” said Cone. “But he had certain movements where there is pain in his knee, and because he had a couple of ACL injuries, we want to be careful with him.”
But now that Edu is 100 percent healthy, the Gilas coach can’t wait to see what Edu can deliver on the table, especially with his frontcourt partner 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto out for a year while recovering from an ACL surgery.
“We’re excited about bringing in AJ in the fold,” said the 67-year-old Cone.
Edu rejoins a Gilas team where he last played as part of the unit that competed in the Manila FIBA World Cup in 2023 under former coach Chot Reyes, with Cone serving as among the deputies back then.
Joining him in the lineup are June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Chris Newsome, Scottie Thompson, the comebacking Jamie Malonzo, Troy Rosario, naturalized player Justine Brownlee, Dwight Ramos, Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao, and Mason Amos.
The friendlies, which also feature games against Lebanon and Egypt, will help Edu get familiarize with the Gilas program under Cone.
Although he didn’t play during the second window of the Asia Cup qualifiers, Edu still joined the team in its training camp at Inspire and watched the game against New Zealand, which the Philippines beat for the first time in FIBA-sanctioned tournament, 93-89.
“The fact that he did the whole Inspire camp and into the New Zealand game, we thought that was good enough for his immersion into the team, wanted to create chemistry with the team, and still be part of it, and let his teammates know that he’s still a part of it,” said Cone.
Again, the coaching staff will try to be a little bit careful on how to deal with Edu’s health condition as the team can’t afford to lose another big man following the injury to the 23-year-old Sotto.
Cone has been vocal about applying load management to Edu and Brownlee during the friendlies just to make sure they’ll be a bit fresh when Gilas plays in the third and final leg of the Asia Cup qualifiers next week.
“While we’re playing this thing, we’re going to do some load management. In other words, we’re going to be careful about over-extending guys,” said the champion coach. “Our thought right now is that maybe AJ only plays two games of the three in Doha, things like that.
“(But) AJ is really the target. We felt he needed more games before we go to the FIBA Asia in August.”
Lebanon is up next for Gilas after the Qatar game. The two teams clash on Saturday at 11:00 p.m. (Manila time). Same as the Philippines, the Lebanese have already clinch berth in the tournament proper of the Asia Cup set in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in August.
The team finally plays Egypt early Monday morning at 1:30 a.m. (Manila time).
Gilas returns to Manila that same day, take a few hours of rest, and then travel again to Taiwan for the final leg of the Asia Cup qualifiers.
The Filipinos take on Chinese Taipei on Feb. 20, and then goes to Auckland for their Feb. 23 rematch with the New Zealand Tall Blacks.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
