Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone is keeping his fingers crossed, hoping that Justin Brownlee will eventually get the green light to suit up for Gilas Pilipinas in major international tournaments.
The 66-year-old Cone said he remains optimistic that Brownlee will be available when they face Hong Kong on 22 February and Chinese Taipei on 25 February in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Brownlee served as the savior of Gilas Pilipinas as he powered it to a historic gold medal in the 19th Asian Games last year.
But the celebration was short-lived after he tested positive for banned substance related to cannabis. Although the International Basketball Federation has yet to come up with a decision, the 35-year-old Brownlee opted to stay in the United States and was not fielded during the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup.
Cone said they expect the FIBA decision to come out very soon.
“We’re hoping their (FIBA) decision will come down sometime this week and that it will hopefully free him up for the window on the 22nd,” Cone said.
“Justin Brownlee’s going to be our naturalized player if everything works out with FIBA.”
Aside from Brownlee, also part of the Gilas pool were Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez, Jamie Malonzo, June Mar Fajardo, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Kai Sotto, Carl Tamayo and Kevin Quiambao.
