BEING familiar with the Gilas Pilipinas system made Calvin Oftana the obvious pick to become the 12th man in the lineup for the 20th Asian Games.
READ: Calvin Oftana emerging as Gilas Pilipinas' 12th man for Asiad
Coach Tim Cone stressed this point after confirming Oftana is set to join the national team in Nagoya, Japan at the last minute.
"Because of the system we are running and his previous experience in the window teams, he's a plug and play player and will fit right in," said the Philippine shot-caller in a text message from the Aichi Prefecture.
Oftana will be the only returning member of the 2022 team that ended the country's 61-year gold medal drought in the Asiad thanks to a 70-60 win over Jordan in the finals.
Calvin called up
The 30-year-old TNT forward arrived in Japan just before noon of Wednesday, accompanied by NLEX team governor Ronald Dulatre.
He's expected to join Gilas in practice later in the day, as he has to get himself in touch again with Cone and his system.
The Filipinos' coach admitted even before Oftana begged off from joining the national team for the fourth window of the recent FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian qualifiers, the latter was already included in the long list of players the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas had submitted to the Nagoya Asian Games Organizing Committee.
Oftana went down with hamstring and toe injuries during the course of the Tropang 5G's campaign in the PBA 50th Season Commissioner's Cup where they lost to Barangay Ginebra in the finals.
"Calvin was always on the list to play, but we were uncertain of his health status," said Cone, 68. "But he has since returned to TNT's practice and is good to go."
TNT had been posting a series of reels in its social media accounts showing Oftana having joined practices at Gameville Ball Park.
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