MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone will lead separate preparations for the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games as the national team faces a busy stretch over the next month.
Cone will begin training for the fourth Fiba qualifying window on Monday, with Gilas set to face Jordan on Aug. 28 and Iran on Aug. 30 at the Mall of Asia Arena. The Philippines needs strong results against both teams as it pursues a spot in the 2027 Fiba World Cup.
“We’re going to practice [for the two events] separately,” Cone said. “The plan for me is to handle the window until we get it done and then transfer to the Asian Games team.”
The qualifying team is expected to include familiar Gilas players such as Dwight Ramos, Kevin Quiambao, Juan Gomez de Liaño and Scottie Thompson. Justin Brownlee is also set to return after missing the previous Fiba window because of injuries.
After the qualifying games, Cone will trim an initial pool of 30 players for the Asian Games squad, which will defend the gold medal the Philippines won in Hangzhou in 2023.
Cone expects the Asiad roster to feature mostly PBA players because several national team regulars are playing for clubs overseas.
Players such as Adrian Nocum, Sedrick Barefield, Brandon Bates and Zavier Lucero are among those included in the initial Asian Games pool.
“A lot of them will be some who have played in the past with Gilas, but haven’t been a part of these windows that we’ve been part of,” Cone said. “But we can still get maybe one or two or three from the window team to join. But the bulk of the team will be new for the Asian Games.”
Quentin Millora-Brown and Mike Phillips will miss the upcoming campaigns for health and personal reasons, while Kai Sotto is again unlikely to join the national team.
Brownlee, meanwhile, is expected to suit up for both competitions.
As part of the buildup, Gilas will train in South Korea and play an exhibition game against the Korean national team before traveling to Japan.