WITH Justin Brownlee entrenched as the No. 1 option as naturalized player in Gilas Pilipinas' transition to the Tim Cone era, are Jordan Clarkson and Ange Kouame still part of the national team's plans moving forward?
Clarkson and Kouame had previously played the role for Gilas - Clarkson a number of times, first under Tab Baldwin then under Yeng Guiao and later under Chot Reyes; Kouame with the pool of college standouts put together by Baldwin.
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But with Cone laying down a four-year program anchored on a 12-man Gilas pool that had Brownlee as the naturalized player, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas was asked if there's any chance of Clarkson or Kouame, or both, making another international appearance in the blue and white.
SBP president Al Panlilio said it boils down to two things: need and availability.
While Panlilio stressed that Brownlee is without a doubt the No. 1 option for the position in the foreseeable future under Cone, he anticipates there will be occasions when the need for Clarkson or Kouame may arise for Gilas.
That could be true, Panlilio pointed out, in non-Fiba tournaments where Gilas can have the option to play more than one naturalized player like in the Southeast Asian Games and the Asiad, or in the rare occasions that Brownlee becomes unavailable.
"I think Tim made his plans very clear when it comes to that," said Panlilio. "But if the need for another naturalized player or players arises, especially in tournaments where Gilas can have more than one naturalized player, then that will be discussed."
In the case of Clarkson, however, the SBP president admitted that calling up the Fil-American guard for another tour of duty with Gilas is more complicated owing to his schedule with his NBA club Utah Jazz.
Panlilio acknowledged the availability part becomes trickier owing to Cone's desire to build up team chemistry by keeping a team together from window to window. unlike before when Gilas built different teams from one tournament to the next.
The chance of calling up Kouame figures to be higher since the 6-11 slotman, who is currently playing for UB Chartres Metropole in French league's third tier, was already part of the Cone team that won the gold medal in the last Asian Games.
Ultimately, Panlilio said the goal is to build up a pool of naturalized players that can either back up Brownlee or step in if the resident Ginebra import is unavailable.
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