Tricky draw for Gilas; Cone undaunted

Japeth Aguilar with Gilas Pilipinas ahead of its match up against 2025 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers. –FIBA PHOTO

Gilas Pilipinas’ path in reclaiming the Fiba Asia Cup will go through a tricky preliminary round after being drawn with a couple of familiar faces that thoroughly tested the Nationals in recent encounters.

The Philippines is bracketed with New Zealand and Chinese-Taipei in Group D, following the draw ceremony in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which will host the continental showcase this August.

“Can’t wait to get back with the Gilas guys and get back to work,” national coach Tim Cone wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“All-Filipino (conference in the PBA) first, but looking forward to the Asia Cup in August. We’ll be ready,” he added of draw results, which also bunched his charges with Iraq.

Gilas stumbled against retooled Chinese-Taipei, 92-88, and then lost to a full-strength Tall Blacks, 87-80, in the Asia Cup qualifiers back in February. Those two defeats were the only losses the Nationals suffered throughout the qualifying windows, but they also came at a time when the squad was missing 7-foot-3 cornerstone Kai Sotto, who is recuperating after going through surgery to repair his knee.

It will be interesting to see how Cone actually navigates the lead-up to the showcase, which has been dominated by Australia for the past two editions.

Gilas will continue to miss Sotto, and is also set to confront the Justin Brownlee doping situation, which remains murky as things stand.

The last time the Philippines ruled the regional showcase was in Kaula Lumpur 40 years ago. Gilas managed to salvage silver in Changsha, China, in 2015 with the help of then-naturalized ace Andray Blatche, but has since missed the podium.

The Saudi showcase is the first major tournament for Cone and his long-haul cast featuring the likes of Dwight Ramos, June Mar Fajardo and Scottie Thompson since the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia.