Brownlee optimistic on Gilas future

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine basketball scene will be “on the rise even more” in the coming years, Justin Brownlee said, as the 12-man Gilas Pilipinas pool was named late last month.

Brownlee is the naturalized player named by Gilas head coach Tim Cone. He will lead the team along with Ginebra teammates Scottie Thompson and Jamie Malonzo, PBA rivals Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez and June Mar Fajardo, Japan B.League imports Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo and Kai Sotto, and UAAP champion Kevin Quiambao.

Brownlee told reporters that the 12-man team is a “very dynamic team.”

“[It is a] very young, athletic, energetic [team] and some of the best talent in the Philippines right now, my opinion,” he said.

“I think they’re some of the best talents. The way Coach Tim is, he likes to build and I think in the next three or four years, I really think Philippine basketball will be on the rise even more,” he added.

The naturalized player, who was lauded on Friday due to his heroics in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, was recently tagged eligible to play starting the February window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers after being suspended for three months.

Gilas will kick off the February window on February 22, when they will face Hong Kong.

The Nationals will then battle Chinese Taipei on February 25 here at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Brownlee said that in his three-month “hiatus,” he used the time to recover from an injury and trained to be in as tiptop shape as possible.

“I’ve been pretty much working out most days, and since I’ve been back in the Philippines, I’ve been trying to mostly work on my conditioning, things like that.”