GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone said he and his coaching staff has been mulling the inclusion of Juan Gomez de Liaño way before his explosive performance for Converge in a win against Barangay Ginebra last Friday.
Cone said Gilas has long wanting to shore up its point guard position, especially on offense, and he believes that Gomez de Liano fits the bill.
“We’ve had him in mind for a while,” said Cone about Juan GDL. “But it was a consensus of the coaching staff. Just feeling like that was the position that we felt we could use a little bit more of a scorer and a ball controller, and a pick and roll guy.”
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Cone said the Converge guard can bring a lot more offense to the point guard position at Gilas than what Scottie Thompson and Chris Newsome provide.
“Scottie is not a three-level scorer in any regards. He is just pure hustle guy and great defender and makes intangible plays that don’t show up [in the stats sheets], which is why he is so spectacular.
"New [Newsome] is a guy that can also defend and he has really, really improved his offense over the last couple of years. But neither of them are what I would call pure point guards. They are more of a 1, 2, and combo guards.
“Him (Gomez de Liano) and also RJ (Abarrientos) are two guys that can come out and run the pick-and-roll, spread the floor, do certain things for us,” said Cone.
Defense was also considered in Gomez de Liano’s inclusion to the pool.
“I’m just really impressed with Juan’s defense. His defense is spectacular and that’s what we expect for the point guard position. We want a great defender because in the international game, there is so much initiation through the point guard,” said Cone.
Overall, Cone said Gomez de Liano, who prior to his PBA stint played in Japan, Lithuania, and Korea, fits the international game for the point guard position.
“They initiate so much, you’ve got to have a great defender to front your defense to have a chance against these really good teams and I’m talking about the European teams, Australians, New Zealanders, they initiate a lot through their point guards.
"Their point guards are big and strong. That’s why we are looking for bigger players at that position.”
Incidentally, Gilas Pilipinas will also be facing Australia and New Zealand in the group stage of the World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
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