WILL several of our major Gilas players be absent during the second window of the Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers?
That is a question seriously confronting coach Tim Cone as he grapples anew with the sad reality of having to deal with players committed to play abroad for their mother teams -- at the expense of flag and country?
Already, Cone has scheduled practice games for Gilas Pilipinas starting this week in preparation for crucial games against New Zealand and Australia.
But as of this writing, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, and Quentin Millora-Brown are still in Japan, while Carl Tamayo and Kevin Quiambao are in South Korea.
Ramos, Edu, Millora-Brown, Tamayo, and Quiambao are all playing in the B. League in Japan and in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) in South Korea, two tournaments that continuously dangle enormous salaries to lure Filipino talents to their side.
The five are mainstays of Gilas Pilipinas, set to do battle in a matter of days against New Zealand on Feb. 26 at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.
It will be Gilas’ first round of qualification as the country prepares for next year’s World Cup proper in Doha, Qatar.
After New Zealand, Cone’s men face a much tougher foe in Australia for the second window on March 1, also at MOA Arena, in a match seen as a make-or-break mission for the country.
Gilas is riding on the crest of its back-to-back routs of Guam in November in the Fiba Cup’s first window in Guam and at home.
It will be a different story altogether though, when Gilas squares off with New Zealand and Australia, as the Nationals bowed to both squads in last year’s Fiba Asia Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Cone can lean on his usual dependable line-up led by the 6-foot-10 June Mar Fajardo, the San Miguel Beer cornerstone, who is using his free time to get as much rest as he can after anchoring yet again the Beermen to the PBA Philippine Cup championship only weeks back.
Fajardo’s Gilas teammates include CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Scottie Thompson, RJ Abarrientos, Justin Brownlee, and Chris Newsome.
But without the five others tied up to their juicy contracts in Japan and South Korea, it’d be an uphill climb for Gilas once more against New Zealand and Australia.
Even the 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto is a doubtful starter for Gilas.
Cone in dire times, indeed.