GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone was impressed with the talent this year’s PBA Draft class brings to the table, saying this would likely produce national team cagers soon.
But Cone does not intend to tweak his 12-man roster despite injuries to former MVP Scottie Thompson (back), Jamie Malonzo (calf), and AJ Edu (ACL).
“I think Justine (Baltazar) would be a real candidate for the national team eventually. But, you know, I don’t see us making any changes to the 12 at this point. As long as we can continue to be healthy,” Cone said yesterday during the final day of the Draft Combine at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig, a day after arriving back in the country from Gilas’ campaign in the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament in Riga.
“We don’t know how Scottie (Thompson) is going to be coming back. Jamie (Malonzo) is still going to be out, probably through the next window. We’re still hoping AJ (Edu) will join us at some point.
