MANILA — Gilas Pilipinas is banking on both continuity and added depth as the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) expanded the men’s pool to 16 players ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers.
The move retains the 12-man lineup from the recent FIBA Asia Cup — Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, Japeth Aguilar, Kevin Quiambao, Justin Brownlee, Carl Tamayo, and AJ Edu — while bringing in new reinforcements: Quentin Millora-Brown, naturalized center Angelo Kouame, Rhon Jay Abarrientos, and Kai Sotto, who is still recovering from a knee injury sustained in January.
“Continuity is still the main priority of coach Tim Cone but we saw it fit to add a couple of pieces to the training pool,” SBP president Al Panlilio said in a statement.
Panlilio stressed the value of having options, especially with naturalized players.
“Obviously, Justin will still be the top choice in terms of having a naturalized player in the lineup but we need to take advantage of actually having multiple naturalized players,” he added.
Kouame and Abarrientos, though yet to play under Cone, have previously joined Gilas practices when the roster was short-handed, giving them a measure of familiarity with the system.
Millora-Brown, reclassified as a local by FIBA, is set to be part of his first Gilas pool.
“We’re excited to have QMB in the pool,” Panlilio said. “We got a close-up look at what he can do when he played for the Macau Black Bears and talking to coach Tim, he’s certain a guy like QMB can shine in the system that we have.”
Gilas will begin its qualifying campaign in Group A — pooled with Australia, New Zealand, and Guam — with back-to-back games against Guam on November 28 in Guam and December 1 in the Philippines. Only the top three teams in the group will advance to the next stage./PN
