By REYNALD MAGALLON
Converge super rookie Juan Gomez de Liano has gotten a call up to join the Gilas Pilipinas pool for the first window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers, national team head coach Tim Cone bared on Sunday, Nov. 16.
Just two days after torching Cone’s Ginebra with 32 points, six rebounds and six assists – a performance that seemingly turned out to be an audition for a national team spot, Gomez de Liano was formally invited to be in the team’s practices which will begin on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
“Right now, we’re considering him obviously.
We’ll have him in practice,” revealed Cone.
“There’s a chance if we continue to have visa issues, or we, God forbid, someone gets injured or something in practice, he could very well go,” he added of Gomez de Liano.
The 25-year-old guard did not hide his desire to impress Cone and admitted that he was hopeful of getting a callup to the national team after his performance.
But it turned out, Cone has long been eyeing him for Gilas to get another playmaker who can be a threat as a passer and a scorer.
“We’ve had him in mind for a while. But it was a consensus on the coaching staff. Just feeling like that was a position that we felt we could use a little bit more of a scorer and a ball controller and a pick-and-roll guy,” said Cone.
The veteran mentor explained that Gomez de Liano provided a different dynamic to that of current Gilas guards Scottie Thompson and Chris Newsome.
“Scottie’s not a three-level scorer. He’s just a pure hustle guy and a great defender and makes intangible plays that don’t show up. That’s why he’s so spectacular,” he said of Thompson.
“New is a guy that can also defend, and he has really, really improved his offense over the last couple of years,” he added, talking about Newsome.
“But neither of them are, I would call, pure, pure point guards. They’re more one-twos and combo guards. So (Gomez de Liano) and also RJ (Abarrientos) are two guys that can come out and run the pick-and-roll, spread the floor for us, do certain things like that,” he furthered.
