One more for Gilas pool

Gilas coach Tim Cone has added two players to the Gilas pool from which to choose who will suit up for the country in the coming international competitions starting with the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Latvia on July 2-7. Cone initially named 12 to the pool but later decided to expand the list to 14 to cover for injuries or other reasons that may make some players unavailable.

Since Cone took over the Gilas reins in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, he has deployed 16 players. The pool now lists Japeth Aguilar, 37, Justin Brownlee, 35, June Mar Fajardo, 34, Chris Newsome, 33, CJ Perez, 30, Scottie Thompson, 30, Calvin Oftana, 28, Jamie Malonzo, 27, Dwight Ramos, 25, AJ Edu, 24, Carl Tamayo, 23, Kevin Quiambao, 22, Kai Sotto, 21, and Mason Amos, 21. The late additions were Aguilar and Amos.

The players who saw action in Hangzhou but are not in the pool are Kevin Alas, Arvin Tolentino, Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter and Ange Kouame. During the first FIBA Asia Cup qualifying window last February, Cone grappled with injury issues and brought in Aguilar – who had previously announced his retirement from Gilas duty – to take over from Edu while leaving Fajardo’s spot vacant. He played the opening game against Hong Kong with an 11-man roster. In the next contest against Chinese-Taipei, Malonzo was unavailable so Cone was down to 10 men. Cone realized that in future battles where the competition will be tougher, no less than a full lineup has to be on deck.

Bringing back Aguilar was a no brainer. Although now the oldest in the pool, he remains a key piece in Cone’s big-man rotation. Aguilar knows Cone’s system well, fits the triangle, blocks shots, executes the pick-and-roll, has a reliable mid-ranger and can play three, four or five. His size, style, versatility and experience are invaluable. Amos has been in the Gilas conversation for months and his addition is an infusion of youth, outside shooting ability and interior presence. He’s basically a stretch four but depending on Cone’s tactics, the Fil-Australian can play three or five, too. Amos is a Bojan Bogdanovic play-alike. Bogdanovic, who plays for the New York Knicks, was the 2016 Olympics’ leading scorer with a 25.3 clip. Although born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bogdanovic plays for Croatia. Edu hasn’t seen action for Gilas under Cone and is still recovering from knee surgery. His last game in the Japanese B-League was on Nov. 12. Edu’s team Toyama has 10 games left in its regular season schedule and is last in the 24-team D1 league with a 4-44 record.