Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player Justin Brownlee is on the right track to become 100 percent battle-ready for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou two weeks from now.
A couple of months after undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs on his foot, the Gilas reinforcement had a good practice run in the squad’s first training session on Monday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
“I feel pretty good. Of course, there are going to be a couple of aches and pains. Stuff that I had to play through or get through at this time,” the 35-year-old versatile forward said.
“So, I’m taking it, you know how it is in trying to go step by step. Just trying not to really rush into it even though there’s a short time now for the Asian Games.”
“I don’t really want to rush but just slowly trying to get back to 100 percent or as close as I can.”
Brownlee, who led Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to six Philippine Basketball Association titles while bagging three Best Import awards, suited up for Gilas in the February window for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers. He averaged 29 points, 8.09 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game.
Brownlee then powered the Filipinos in reclaiming the Southeast Asian Games gold medal last May in Cambodia where he played through a nagging ankle pain.
“Just coming from the bone spurs surgery, I think a little a month right now, just recovering. This is my first practice as far as with the team. I’ve been doing workouts and different stuff like rehabbing my ankle to get back on the court, individually though,” he said.
Brownlee skipped the FIBA Basketball World Cup after Gilas were able to get the services of Utah Jazz star Jordan Clarkson as their naturalized player.
Gilas head coach Tim Cone mentioned that he has his full confidence in Brownlee doing great things for the squad, which is bunched with Jordan, Thailand and Bahrain in the preliminary round, even if he’s just close to 100 percent.
“I mean, I hope I could be,” Brownlee said.
“Whatever I am in, I will just play my best and play as hard as I can. I think that’s the main thing, especially in the Asian Games with just a short window of error.”
“You can’t have too much errors so I’m just trying to make sure I get as close to 100 percent and just to go hard and try to be smart as well.”
