Hoping for feel of Euro play

MANILA, Philippines — Whether it’s against a foreign club or a top-tier Euro squad, Gilas Pilipinas is always game for tune-ups in its continuing efforts to grow as a unit.

Carrying its Olympic dreams, coach Tim Cone’s 11-strong Gilas step up their buildup for the Paris Qualifiers by playing tough sides Turkey and Poland on the road early Friday and early Sunday, respectively.

The twin friendlies follow an earlier duel in Manila with the Taiwan Mustangs, a quintet led by coach Chris Gavina, Pinoy playmaker Alex Cabagnot and 7-foot-6 import Sam Deguara but minus former NBA stars Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins and Quinn Cook. The Nationals defeated the Mustangs, 74-64.

“I think the next two tune-up games against really good national teams, that’s going to be a bigger test for us,” said Gilas star Dwight Ramos. “The Mustang game was still a good test especially the big dude plus a lot of good imports there, too. Every game is a good practice game for us.”

The Nationals brace for an acid test in the away outing in Istanbul against world No. 24 Turkish, an opponent which may bring in its NBA players like Cedi Osman, Alperen Sengun, Omer Yurtseven and Furkan Korkmaz in the match in Istanbul. Ditto with the 15th-ranked Polish, who may have San Antonio’s Jeremy Sochan in the fold, in the succeeding Poland gig.

The Turkish and the Polish should give the Nationals a good feel of Euro play before they wade into battle in the July 2 to 7 OQT against host Latvia and Georgia.

“It’s great for our preparation for Latvia and Georgia and whoever we may meet in the (KO rounds of the) Qualifiers. It’s going to be a test and kind of measure what we have,” said naturalized player Justin Brownlee.

Cone hopes Gilas gets to play full-strength Turkish and Polish crews.

“I love it (Euro friendlies). Poland is No. 15 in the world, so they’ll give us a really good feel. And Turkey’s No. 24 but they’re much better; they have NBA guys, I don’t know if they’re going to show up,” said Cone.

“Poland is preparing for the OQT in Valencia (Spain). Turkey is preparing for the Euro Qualifiers so they may have their full team there. We’ll see. It should be a great indication of where we are by the time we get to Riga. That’s the idea.”

Meanwhile, the NLEX Road Warriors officially start a new chapter under fresh leadership. Multi-titled Jong Uchico, who’s serving as Gilas assistant, signed on as head coach and Virgil Villevicencio, a long time executive, came in as new team manager, recently. Together they hope to end NLEX’ 10-year quest for a maiden PBA crown.