BOCAUE, Bulacan – Justin Brownlee’s impressive Gilas Pilipinas debut against Lebanon fueled talk on social media on whether the resident Ginebra import should stay on as the naturalized player in the Fiba Basketball World Cup proper.
Brownlee played brilliantly on Friday in his first game as a naturalized player for the national team, tallying 17 points, four rebounds, and five assists to lead Gilas to a 107-96 win over Lebanon at the Philippine Arena.
READ: Gilas buries Lebanon in a hail of threes
Brownlee made so big an impact that many felt that he may be better fit to the national squad than NBA player Jordan Clarkson.
“Of all of Justin’s skills, he shoots the ball well, he defends, he penetrates, he has a lot of technical skills. The one skill for me that I appreciate is he is a great teammate,” said head coach Chot Reyes of Gilas' new naturalized player.
“And great teammates, they make their teammates better. The players make him better. And that’s I think his greatest skill,” said Reyes.
Reyes said Gilas' naturalization was the best thing that came out of a rough stretch that saw both the team and its coach come under heavy criticism after losses in both the World Cup qualifiers and the Southeast Asian Games.
“When I reflect, I always believe that things happen for a reason and all the challenges that we went through very early when I was appointed as head coach to come back to the national team, the failures and frustrations we had in the past, I think the reason for that is that for the entire country to get together.
"We are thankful to the Senate, Congress, the PBA, and the stakeholders to finally get together and get [Brownlee's] papers done. And maybe that’s the reason for all the heartaches that we had to endure in the past because finally, everyone came together and we have to get things done and getting his papers finally,” said Reyes.
The Gilas coach also said the World Cup in August is still far, but he definitely likes what he is seeing so far.
He is also starting to see the final Gilas team shape up.
“Hopefully, we are continuously moving forward. I know we are not going to win every game. But I think we should continue to see improvements with the way the team plays,” said Reyes.
“We want to have a core group of guys who are familiar with each other. They already understand the system and put in a few guys here and there and take a look perhaps. In the final iteration of the roster come August, we hopefully have the best team. Not the best collection of individual talents, but the best team,” Reyes added.
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