Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone allayed any concerns regarding the health and fitness of naturalized player Justin Brownlee and he was, in fact, expecting the 36-year-old player to be motivated heading into the second window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Coming off the second Finals loss of his PBA career, Brownlee should be ready to bounce back after taking more than a week’s rest to lick his wounded pride after struggling heavily against TNT.
“I think you’re going to see a really motivated Justin come into this New Zealand game,” said Cone during the Gilas press conference at the TV5 Media Center on Wednesday, Nov. 13.
The national team mentor said he is expecting Brownlee to suit up in the two games in the November window, first against the Kiwis on the 21st and then versus Hong Kong on the 24th.
Talks about Brownlee potentially sitting out one of the two games surfaced after backup naturalized player Ange Kouame was also named into the 15-man pool but Cone assured that Brownlee would be ready for the games.
“He’s highly motivated. We’ve seen him highly motivated in the past and what he can do so I don’t think anybody has anything to fear about Justin. He’s ready. He’ll be raring to go,” said Cone.
“I think the key was he just needed time to rest his body and his mind. Eight, nine days do not seem to be much time, it’s not, but I think for Justin, it’s enough. I know him well. I’ve been with him in the last six, seven years and I see how he recovers and I think he’ll be primed,” he added.
Playing non-stop basketball since he was reinstated last February – playing in the first window, suiting up in the Indonesian league where he reached as far as the Finals, then leading the way in Olympic qualifying tournament and then returning with Ginebra in the PBA – Brownlee looked a little winded in the Finals series against TNT which concerned most fans.
But Cone is not really worried.
“He struggled. We all struggled in this series and people started thinking, he was having injuries or not. It was just a tough, long, playoff going through Meralco and San Miguel and then having to go against talking TNT and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson,” said Cone.
“I’m motivated to bounce back but more so Justin is motivated to bounce back so I’m looking forward to it. Like I said whenever I have a motivated Justin, watch out,” he added.
“Bottomline is I think Justin will be ready to play and that doesn’t mean he’s gonna put up big numbers. That means he’s gonna be locked in in what we do, get his teammates involved and play the game the right way,” Cone furthered.
