JUSTIN Brownlee assured that he'll work to be "as close to a hundred percent" fitness-wise for the Asian Games after undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs in his ankle a little over a month ago.
Brownlee assured that he'll be well enough to be at his best for the Asiad starting later this month. The naturalized player joined Gilas Pilipinas' preparations for the Fiba World Cup before undergoing surgery.
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“Just coming from bone spurs, surgery, I think a little over a month now, just recovering,” said the 35-year-old Brownlee after his first practice with Gilas Pilipinas last Monday. “I’ve been doing workouts, different stuff like rehabbing my ankle to get back on the court, individually though.”
“I feel pretty good,” Brownlee continued. “Of course, there’s going to be a couple of aches and pains and stuff that I’ll probably have to play through at this time. I’m just taking how it is and taking it step-by-step and just try not to really rush into it even though it’s just a short time now for the Asian Games. I don’t want to really rush but just solely trying to get back to a hundred percent or close as I can.”
Gilas interim coach Tim Cone admitted Brownlee isn’t a hundred percent yet, but insisted that including him on the final roster even with the health issue is worth the gamble.
“Who else have we got? We don’t have any naturalized player out there that we can replace him with,” said Cone.
“Ninety-five percent, 90 percent Justin is going to be better than anybody else we can get at this time. We are going to gamble with him and go with him. He says he can do it.”
Cone said Brownlee would continuously do his rehab even when they are in China.
“It’s going to be a continuing thing. But he is back on the court. He is going up and down. He is shooting. He says he feels good. He says he feels minimal pain in his ankle. The doctors are basically giving him a clearance but he’s got to continue to rehab as it goes. We are expecting to bring his rehab team to Inspire (Sports Academy), and to China and continuing his rehab as he goes along,” said Cone.
Brownlee hopes that he can meet the expectations of Cone during the Asiad.
“I hope I can be,” said Brownlee when told about Cone’s statements that he remains one of the best players around even if not a hundred percent.
“Whatever percent I’m in, I’m going to try to play my best and play as hard as I can. I think that’s the main thing especially in these games when it’s a short window, you can’t really make errors. I’ll just try to make sure I get as close to a hundred percent and try to go hard and be smart as well,” said Brownlee.
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