JUAN Gomez de Liano will be joining Gilas Pilipinas practice when it starts its build-up for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers on Tuesday.
Just two days after impressing in a Converge win over Barangay Ginebra, Gomez de Liano, Gilas coach Tim Cone confirmed, will take part in practice and will be up for consideration for the two games between Guam in Window 1 of the Asian Qualifiers.
READ Juan GdL hopes he impressed Cone enough to get a Gilas call-up
Gomez de Liano's surprise call-up comes in light of news rhat Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, and AJ Edu will not be coming in for the early stages of Gilas practice.
“We’ve invited Juan to the practice. That doesn't necessarily mean he is going to be in the Final 12 but he will come and join us,” said Cone.
Quiambao and Tamayo will still have a game for their respective Korean Basketball League (KBL) ballclubs on November 20, while Edu is set to get married.
Gomez de Liano joins Quentin Millora-Brown as the players in the Gilas Pilipinas pool who are new to the system of Cone.
“QMB and Juan will be the only ones who don’t know the system and needed to be taught. They will starting from ground zero,” said Cone.
By virtue of being part of the pool, Gomez de Liano is under consideration for the Final 12, although Cone admitted his chances will get stronger as well due to visa issues that some of the players are having.
“Right now, we are considering him (Gomez de Liano) obviously. We have him in practice. If we continue to have visa issues or God-forbid, someone gets injured or something, he could very well go. He’s got his visa and he is on the list so he could be part of the 12,” said Cone.
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