TIM Cone will finally have the ‘big man stopper’ he didn’t have in the past with Gilas Pilipinas.
The national team coach confirmed AJ Edu is set to arrive in the country to wear the flag in the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers set later this month.
“He is in our original 12. He’s definitely playing this window,” Cone relayed to SPIN.ph.
The Nov. 21-24 window will be the first time Cone is going to handle the 6-foot-10 Edu since taking over coaching chores for the national team.
The 66-year-old Cone named Edu part of the original 12-man pool for the Asia Cup qualifiers last January along with June Mar Fajardo, Kai Sotto, Carl Tamayo, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, Jamie Malonzo, Calvin Oftana, Kevin Quiambao, and naturalized player Justin Brownlee.
Unfortunately, a nagging knee issue kept the towering talent out of the roster for the home-and-away games against Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei.
Japeth Aguilar later took over Edu’s spot after being named one of two alternates along with Mason Amos.
A product of University of Toledo, the 24-year-old Edu also missed playing for Gilas in the last FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT), where the Philippines reached the semifinals, but lost to eventual champion Brazil, 71-60.
The Filipinos highlighted that stint with an 89-80 upset of host Latvia, ranked No. 6 in the world.
“AJ is a key guy because he’s our true big man stopper,” said Cone, recalling had Edu been around during the OQT.
“I can’t help but think. Imagine if AJ Edu had been there. What a difference he would have made in terms of keeping our big men fresh and giving them different looks because he’s a different type of a big man.”
Edu-ifference-maker
Once a part of the Batang Gilas program, Edu made his Gilas men’s team debut during the FIBA World Cup 2023 where he had a breakout performance manning the frontcourt behind a solid rotation that also included Fajardo, Aguilar, and Sotto.
Edu finished as the Philippines’ top rebounder with 8.6 per game and ranked No. 8 in the entire tournament.
When Cone was finally named head coach of the national team for the Hangzhou Asian Games, he was also eyed as part of the Gilas squad that eventually won gold for the first time in 61 years.
But he and the rest of the Filipino players seeing action in Japan had to beg off as the new B. League season was about to begin back then.
Now, Cone finally gets his hands on the 24-year-old Fil-Nigerian.
“We’re excited to finally have him,” he said of Edu.
The young big man actually currently leads the B. League in blocks with 1.8 per game, including three blocks in Nagasaki Velca’s 87-68 rout of Nagoya Diamond Dolphins on Saturday.
Gilas will play host for the second leg of the Asia Cup qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena. They play New Zealand on Nov. 21 and then Hong Kong on Nov. 24.
The Filipinos currently lead Group B along with New Zealand with similar 2-0 records.
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