ANGE Kouame will be immediately thrown in the deep end when he makes his Gilas Pilipinas debut in the third window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers in Clark.
But the soon-to-be naturalized center is unfazed.
"Mostly, I'm excited because it's been a thought for a year now. I've prepared myself for this," he told The Game.
Kouame, whose naturalization papers hurdled both houses of Congress on March 15 and only needs the signature of President Duterte, won't have much honeymoon time to adjust to his new role as the man in the middle for the Philippine team.
Awaiting him in the Clark bubble will be Korea's Ra Gun-A (formerly known as Ricardo Ratliffe) and Indonesia's Lester Prosper.
And this early, he has done his due diligence in taking down notes about the opposition.
"I've been scouting them. I played against Ratliffe in the Jones Cup. For Prosper, I've seen some of his games in the PBA. I've scouted them to see what their weaknesses, their strengths are and I'm really excited to go against these guys," he said.
Gilas will face Korea in June 16 and 20, while the Indonesia game is on June 18.
Kouame also feels lucky to have someone like Alton Lister in his ears all the time as the whole Gilas team continues its training at Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba.
"It's impressive for me because he's the kind of coach who always pushes me to keep working out," he said of Lister, a 17-year NBA veteran for the Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, and Portland Trail Blazers and now an assistant coach for the national team.
"Having him around, I try to learn as much as I can from him and he teaches me a lot of things like moving and how to play inside and outside. He's really helpful and I keep learning from him every single day."
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