By REYNALD MAGALLON
Juan Gomez de Liano was one of the three final cuts in the Gilas Pilipinas for the first window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers but head coach Tim Cone assured that the Converge rookie will be a huge part of the program moving forward.
Explaining the decision to exclude Gomez de Liano along with Troy Rosario and Jamie Malonzo, Cone said it was never a question of talent but rather his familiarity to the triangle system.
The veteran mentor went as far as saying that the 25-year-old playmaker will be part of Gilas future.
“It was a really tough decision because he practiced really well. But Juan is a future Gilas player. He will be on the team at some point,” Cone said of the FiberXers guard.
“It just so happens that this time, he is pretty new to the system,” he added.
But considering Gomez de Liano as part of the program in the long haul, Cone said the coaching staff opted to lay the foundations of their system on the combo guard with hopes of him finally playing for the team by the next window.
“What we did with him is we laid the foundation for Juan in terms of him learning the system this time and being able to go with us next time,” explained Cone as the Nationals will face a tougher schedule against New Zealand and Australia in the February window.
“He is going to be a fixture of this team. Instead of saying we are sorry to Juan, it was like congratulations Juan, you proved your worth. You are gonna be on this team and there’s no doubt about it. He is really a stud,” added the multi-titled mentor.
“There is no reason for us to not bring him this time except for the fact that we want to be loyal to the ones we had and RJ also had a great camp as well,” he added.
“RJ knows the system a little bit more. He was with us last window so he was a little ahead in terms of knowledge so we picked RJ but again, Juan is gonna be a part of the 12 very soon.”
