DWIGHT Ramos, Kevin Quiambao, and Carl Tamayo are being counted upon to assume leadership roles in the absence of Justin Brownlee at the start of the second round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone stressed the need for the three players to lead from the front in the pair of games against Jordan on Friday and Iran on Sunday with naturalized player Brownlee's injuries yet to heal.
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Brownlee has been dealing with a hamstring strain and peroneal tendinopathy on his right leg and swelling and cartilage defects on his left knee since the July window of the World Cup qualifiers that forced him to miss the game against Australia.
Cone isn’t too worried about Brownlee’s absence, expressing confidene that Ramos, Quiambao, and Tamayo are capable of filling the slot.
"It's going to get more opportunity for guys like KQ and Carl to step up and get major minutes, and for Dwight to be more of a take-charge guy,” Cone said.
Ramos is the second leading scorer of Gilas Pilipinas during the World Cup qualifiers with an average of 13.5 points. The Levanga Hokkaido standout will also look to atone for his performance from his previous window where he only had nine points against Australia last July 3 after going 18 against New Zealand last July 6.
Quiambao, a standout for the Goyang Sono Skygunners in the KBL, is the fourth leading scorer of Gilas in the World Cup qualifiers at 9.2 points a game, and had 23 points during the previous window against New Zealand.
Tamayo, who like Quiambao plays in Korea with the Changwon LG Sakers, is only averaging 5.2 in the World Cup qualifiers, but also had a solid showing against New Zealand where he had 17 points.
“So you lose someone, but that means other people get opportunities. And we're going to try to take advantage of those opportunities," Cone said.
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