JUAN Gomez de Liano is set to make his debut for Gilas Pilipinas men in the Tim Cone era as he was named to the Final 12 for the home game against New Zealand in Window Two of the Fiba World Cup 2027 Asian qualifiers, sources said on Wednesday.
While JGdL made the final cut, his Converge teammate Justine Baltazar and Barangay Ginebra's RJ Abarrientos and Troy Rosario were left out as Cone stuck to his old reliables for Thursday's qualifier against the Tall Blacks at the Mall of Asia Arena.
READ Cone keeping options open for line-up changes vs. Australia
Aside from Gomez de Liano, also in the Gilas Final 12 were Kevin Quiambao, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, Scottie Thompson, June Mar Fajardo, Cjay Perez, Carl Tamayo, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Quentin Millora-Brown, and naturalized player Justin Brownlee.
However, Baltazar and Abarrientos, and even Rosario are not entirely out of it and can still be called up for the March 1 qualifier against Australia, also at the MOA Arena.
“We’ll see how things go. But no matter what happens, the players who don’t make it are still very much a part of the program and part of the pool, and can very well be the next guy up in the next window,” said Cone.
Gomez de Liano, who was part of the Gilas cadets under former national coach Tab Baldwin, is set for his first taste of action under Cone after being included in the pool prior to the first window home-and-away games against Guam.
Abarrientos played for Gilas in that first window but is now relegated along with Rosario and Baltazar, who, sources said, was initially supposed to be part of the Final 12 until Millora-Brown returned to the team after a last-ditch deal.
Sources told SPIN.ph that the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) had to make a last-minute appeal to Fiba to insert QMB back in the official lineup.
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