Dwight Ramos leads Gilas Pilipinas previous Taiwan Mustangs in a tune-up sport. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.internet
Nationwide coach Tim Cone was brutally candid when requested to evaluate Gilas Pilipinas forward of the tall job within the Fiba Olympic Qualifiers (OQT).
“I don’t count on us to be prepared at this level,” he advised reporters late Monday night time, shortly after thumping the Taiwan Mustangs, 74-64, within the first of three tuneup matches lined up forward of the showcase in Riga, Latvia.
“We’re not prepared, [and] that’s why we’re nonetheless training and enjoying friendlies—so we might prepare. I hope to see enchancment. I hope to see us get higher on each side of the ball,” he added.
And so Gilas left for Turkiye on late Tuesday night time, hoping to just do that. The Philippines is slated to play higher-ranked Turkish and Polish nationwide groups in what’s shaping up as a simulation of the foes that await within the OQT subsequent week.
“Poland’s No. 15 on the earth, in order that they’re gonna give us a very good really feel (of the competitors). And Turkiye’s No. 24—they usually’re a lot better if their NBA guys present up,” Cone stated. “It ought to be an incredible indication [of our capabilities] by the point we get to Riga.
“We’re simply attempting to get our sport proper. We don’t care if we win or we lose,” he added.
“They’re friendlies, so we’re not going to go in-depth when it comes to scouting or attempting to know what they’re attempting to do. We’re locked [in on] Latvia, we’re locked [in on] Georgia.”
Gilas is slotted with the world No. 6 Latvians and No. 23 Georgians within the Riga meet the place one of many final 4 tickets to the Summer season Olympic Video games in Paris is at stake.
“[It’s] gonna be a tricky job for us,” naturalized ace Justin Brownlee stated of the remaining friendlies. “I feel it’s nice for our preparation for Latvia and Georgia and whoever we could meet within the qualifiers … and it’s gonna be a check—and—sort of measure what now we have.”
Grounded by accidents
The pair of tuneup video games will certainly be an accounting of types for Gilas, which introduced solely 11 gamers as AJ Edu, Jamie Malonzo, and Scottie Thompson have been grounded by accidents.
June Mar Fajardo, who missed the earlier Gilas tour, has been reactivated for the OQT. Many-time skipper Japeth Aguilar has been reeled again into service, whereas Ateneo standout Mason Amos is available in as a late addition for the Filipinos.
“The concept is that if we want any individual, we’ll go get them. We received Japeth, we received Mason. The factor with Scottie occurred so late. [W]e simply couldn’t get any individual for him,” Cone stated.
“Once more, we didn’t actually really feel we wanted anyone for him at this level.
That is simply the type that I need to do, and we got here into this with eyes vast open and we knew this would possibly occur. But additionally, for those who keep in mind the final window, we solely had 10 gamers. Jamie didn’t play. June Mar didn’t play. AJ didn’t play. we solely had Japeth because the sub,” he added.
“Going with 10, 11 guys? Not an issue for us.”
Program fixture Dwight Ramos couldn’t agree extra.
“You solely want 5 gamers on the courtroom,” he stated. “So 11’s ok.” INQ
