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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider 'God-sent' Japeth Aguilar gives boost to Gilas' depleted frontline

'God-sent' Japeth Aguilar gives boost to Gilas' depleted frontline

Published Feb 20, 2024 06:33 am

At A Glance

  • Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone believed that the temporary inclusion of Japeth Aguilar to the national team for the first window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers was simply made in heaven.
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Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone believed that the temporary inclusion of Japeth Aguilar to the national team for the first window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers was simply made in heaven.

 

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The national team mentor, who also coaches the veteran forward with Ginebra in the PBA, was grateful to Aguilar for stepping in with Gilas suffering from the injuries of AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo.

Cone even described Aguilar to be "God-sent" especially since the 37-year-old big man is also making his own sacrifices just to be with the team for the games against Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei.

“He is really God-sent because we really lost a lot of size with injury in June Mar and AJ, so Japeth being with Kai is going to be really big for us,” Cone said of Aguilar who missed the team’s final practice at the PhilSports Arena on Monday, Feb. 19, as he had to be with his wife who gave birth to his second child.

Aguilar’s inclusion for the February window kept the Nationals with decent size down low as he is expected to man the paint with 7-foot-3 center Sotto and Carl Tamayo. 

“Think about that, that's 6-foot-11 and 6-foot-10 that we won’t have. But Japeth is not here. He's in the hospital with his wife. He will be joining us a day later, on the 21st in Hong Kong,” said Cone.

“And Carl Tamayo was our third-string center so he might have to play a little bit out of position,” he added.

Cone, however, was far from being discouraged by the early setbacks to his tenure as full-time Gilas coach, noting that rolling with the punches is also something the Nationals have to learn on the fly.

“These are the things that happen to any basketball team out with injuries, guys out with their wives delivering babies. These types of things happen all the time and it’s just a matter of rolling with the punches and continuing to deal with this,” said Cone.


 

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