JAPETH Aguilar is expected to miss the early part of the PBA Philippine Cup after undergoing surgery on his left hand this offseason.
Coach Tim Cone made the disclosure during the PBA Media Day at Elements of Centris on Friday, saying the veteran big man went under the knife shortly after Gilas Pilipinas returned from its campaign in the FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
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“It’s going alright, he’s doing well. But he’s not doing basketball activities yet, he can’t handle the ball yet. So he’ll be out probably our first game, maybe our second, and we’ll play it game by game after that,” said Cone as he held court on the final day of the two-day meet.
Aguilar did attend the event though, but admitted he’ll be out for a couple of games in Season 50 of the league.
Cone said the hand injury has been bothering the 38-year-old Aguilar for more than a year, but couldn’t find a suitable time for the surgery to be done.
“But he has a choice to do it right after the season and then he’ll be ready for the first game (of the new season), or go to Saudi Arabia for the Asia Cup and then do the surgery after that, knowing that he will miss a couple of games (for the new season),” said the champion coach.
National team duty obviously, was the priority.
“We kind of forced him to go to the Asia Cup rather than stay here and do surgery,” a smiling Cone said.
The Ginebra coach added there’s no time frame for the 6-foot-9 Aguilar's return to action.
“We don’t know exactly when he will be back,” said Cone.
Then again, Cone said the surgery would be for the good of Aguilar’s career as the native of Sasmuan, Pampanga always had to deal with his ‘bad fingers’ that have been very painful and always swelling after every game.
“At least its something that has been taken care of. We’re not going to worry about it anymore and it will help him in the long run with the surgery done,” said Cone.
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