By REYNALD MAGALLON
Naturalized player Justin Brownlee and new additions Quentin Millora-Brown and Juan Gomez de Liano headlined the attendees to the first practice of Gilas Pilipinas at the Blue Eagle Gym on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
Brownlee rejoined the team after missing the first three games of Meralco Bolts in the EASL where he was listed as import due to pneumonia while Millora-Brown and Gomez de Liano finally got their feet wet with the national team.
“He looks good,” He looks like he lost a little weight, which is probably good for him. He probably lost (weight) because he was sick more than from working out,” Cone said of Brownlee in an earlier interview.
“But he’s got some weight that he can gain over the next week or two and get back to playing shape,” said Cone.
Also in attendance are PBA players in the 18-man pool in Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, RJ Abarrientos and Troy Rosario.
Japan B.League players Jamie Malonzo and Dwight Ramos also joined the first day training which only consisted of light practice and a meeting among the team.
Kevin Quiambao and Carl Tamayo are not around as they have yet to be released by their teams in the Korean Basketball League while AJ Edu won’t be arriving until the team departs for Guam due to his wedding.
Also absent was injured big man Kai Sotto, although Cone said the 7-foot-4 center will only join the team in the trip and won’t be suiting up as he continues to recover from a knee injury.
Backup naturalized player Ange Kouame also missed the first day of practice but is expected to join the team in the coming days.
The Nationals will head to the upper deck gym to continue their practice for the next few days before entering a close-door camp at Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna.
