Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone is liking what he has been seeing from his new additions Juan Gomez de Liano and Quentin Millora-Brown in just the few days that the two have been with the team.
Though Cone and the rest of his staff are slowly integrating the two to the triangle system, the impact they could bring to the national team is already evident.
Millora-Brown is providing more ceiling and physicality while Gomez de Liano is pass first guard who can also score but most importantly, can be a threat on the pick-and-roll and is a solid defender.
“We don’t have AJ here, so having Q is big for us at this point. And it’s good, in a way, because we can really focus on him a little bit more. And get a little bit more deeper in teaching him,” said Cone whose offensive system typically runs through agile big men.
“Juan’s great, he’s a revelation, honestly. He’s looking as good here as he has been in the PBA. He hasn’t lost a step, he’s as dominant in this group as he is with Converge. So, very impressive,” he added of Gomez de Liano.
The two, however, will still be fighting for spots in the Final 12 alongside fellow reserves Japeth Aguilar, Troy Rosario and RJ Abarrientos.
Even the original members of the 12 in June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, Chris Newsome, Dwight Ramos, Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao and AJ Edu are still vying for the spots
Calvin Oftana and Kai Sotto are still out with injuries while Justin Brownlee will be taking the naturalized player role, bumping off Ange Kouame from the roster.
Cone, however, admitted that Gomez de Liano has long been under his radar especially with his ability to defend at the point guard spot which according to him, is where most teams initiate the offense in international play.
“I’m just really impressed with Juan’s defense. His defense is spectacular and that’s what we expect for the point guard position. We want a great defender because in the international game, there is so much initiation through the point guard,” said Cone in an earlier interview.
“They initiate so much, you’ve got to have a great defender to front your defense to have a chance against these really good teams and I’m talking about the European teams, Australians, New Zealanders, they initiate a lot through their point guards,” he added.
