VERSATILE players who can play multiple positions are on top of Gilas Pilipinas interim coach Tim Cone’s list as he forms his team to the 19th Asian Games.
At the moment, the only players that are assured of slots in the final 12 are Justin Brownlee, June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, and Japeth Aguilar, with Cone and management still in discussion on who will surround the four players.
Spots are being filled with World Cup overseas players not available to the Asian Games due to their club teams.
Cone though already has types of players in mind including an additional big man. The Barangay Ginebra coach said he is tinkering towards not adding too much guards on the team.
“We just try to fill out the positions,” said Cone. We don’t want to be too guard-heavy. We have great guards. There are a lot of guards that we can put out there. Just look at [Magnolia], you can put in Mark [Barroca], Paul [Lee], Jio [Jalalon], they can all be in that team. But there’s a lot of guards to choose from. We are solid with the bigs when we have Japeth, June Mar, and Kouame, we have those guys. We are pretty solid at the five and Justin will play the four.
“What we are lacking really is that three, two-position, or that off-guard and three-man position because Jamie [Malonzo] is out and Dwight [Ramos] is out,” said Cone. “Those are the guys that fill those positions. We hope that Calvin Oftana can fill that position, but we really need guys who can swing between the three and the four so we can use Justin’s [Brownlee] versatility.”
READ: Cone eyes best available players for Gilas regardless of team
“If he is going to be stuck at the four because we don’t have a four, it is going to make us less versatile,” said Cone.
Cone hopes they can get a player in the mold of someone like what AJ Edu did in the World Cup where he can play with different combinations.
“If we can get another big, the thing is Edu was such a great four-man. He can play with June Mar or Japeth or with Kai. He can even play the five if necessary. That allowed us to play Dwight and Jamie or let them go three, four as well. We don’t have that Edu who has that versatility. Those are the things that we are looking for,” said Cone.
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