JUSTIN Brownlee expressed regret about failing to play for Meralco in the EASL Home and Away Season 3 owing to a health issue which he still hasn’t fully recovered from.
The Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player admitted getting pneumonia while in the U.S. that grounded him for almost two months, rendering him unavailable for what would have been an explosive team up for the Bolts with fellow Best Import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
Although he continues to be more than willing to suit up in the orange and blue jersey, the coming weeks appear to be hectic for the 37-year-old Brownlee, starting with the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers next week.
“It’s just unfortunate that with my health issue, I couldn’t become a part of the team earlier. But I’m still not sure. We’ll see. But I’m looking forward to it. I hope so,” said Brownlee following the conclusion of Gilas practice Thursday at The Upper Deck Ortigas.
Showing he values Meralco’s trust in him, Brownlee made a courtesy call to the ball club on Wednesday accompanied by Gilas deputy coach Richard Del Rosario.
The Barangay Ginebra resident import was welcomed by team governor Atty. Bill Pamintuan, alternate governor Malou Alvendia, and team manager Paolo Trillo.
There, Brownlee told them about his bout with pneumonia in the U.S.
“To be honest, I still feel like I’m recovering. If you know anything about having an infection in the lungs, you can have problems that could last for weeks, even the recovery could last weeks or months after,” he explained.
“At first, I don’t know if everyone knows that I have asthma, not severe asthma, but as a kid I have asthma, and then (it) came back when I was an adult. Sometimes, I have flare ups, just like anybody else who has asthma,” he added.
“That’s what I thought. I thought I have asthma flare ups, very similar symptoms. And I thought It was just going maybe for a couple of weeks and I wasn’t taking it seriously and it just kept getting worse, so I knew it wasn’t asthma because my asthma medicine didn’t work."
Meralco turns it on
In Brownlee’s absence, the Bolts opted to bring in another naturalized player in Ange Kouame to help the team turn around a campaign that was initially full of high expectations, but suddenly got off on the wrong foot at 0-2.
Meralco has since evened its record to 2-2 following back-to-back wins at home against the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots in Isabela and the Macau Black Bears in Cebu.
They still have two games left in the group stage against the Black Bears on December 6 in Isabela and vs. the Ryukyu Golden Kings on Feb. 11 at a venue still to be announced.
But by then, Brownlee would already be in Gilas mode for the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in December in Thailand, then may be back playing for the Gin Kings in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup come February.
As they say, though, hope springs eternal.
“Maybe, hopefully if everything works out smoothly, I can. I’m ready for that opportunity and I’m looking forward to it,” said a smiling Brownlee.
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