MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone expressed his excitement with the recent reclassification of Filipino-American center Quentin Millora-Brown as a local player by FIBA.
In an interview over Power and Play with Noli Eala on Saturday, Cone described the 6-foot-10 center as exactly what the doctor ordered for his shorthanded frontline rotation.
“Oh, man. I mean, what can you say? You get a talented, athletic, young, 6’10”, 6’11” player who’s still scoring games,” Cone said. “Bringing in a big guy like that, he’s basically just what the doctor ordered.”
Cone added that the availability of Millora-Brown will ease the workload of veteran big men June Mar Fajardo and Ariel John Edu, who have shouldered much of the team’s inside duties in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.
“AJ and June Mar are out there pretty much on their own. But with QMB, we have a guy to slot in right there,” Cone said. “As much as we have this program that we put together, this team that we put together, we have not had Kai (Sotto) and AJ on the team at the same time in a practice. We have not even had them on the floor.”
“And now we get the opportunity to have that happen in the near future. Then you add a QMB to that, and, man, that’s something we can really work off of. I’m excited about it,” he added.
The current Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings head coach also believes Millora-Brown’s skill set will thrive in the triangle offensive system the national men’s basketball team is implementing.
“I think he works tremendously well within our triangle system, and I think he’s really going to enjoy playing that position in the triangle. I think our big men really enjoy being within the triangle,” Cone noted.
“Picking up a QMB is like picking up a number one pick in the draft for us. That’s awesome. You’ve got to make room for him. And, you know, we’re going to look at the lineup and try to make tweaks here and there,” he added.
With Millora-Brown now cleared to suit up as a local, Gilas Pilipinas gains a much-needed reinforcement in the frontline as it prepares for the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers beginning this November./PN
