At A Glance
- June Mar Fajardo is expected to rejoin the Gilas Pilipinas training for the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup while Calvin Oftana remains questionable due to injuries he sustained in the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs.
June Mar Fajardo is expected to rejoin the Gilas Pilipinas training for the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup while Calvin Oftana remains questionable due to injuries he sustained in the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs.
Both Fajardo and Oftana were in attendance in Gilas' 103-98 victory over the Macau Black Bears albeit both were in street clothes.
Of the two, however, only Fajardo is certain to suit up for Gilas in the continental tiff although he would still need some days rest and is likely to join the practice when they finally arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“He's going to take another two or three days off from doing any physical activity. And then we expect him to play, start practicing when we arrive, which would be like the evening of the 31st over there,” Cone said of Fajardo, who he said will also play in the friendly game against Jordan.
Fajardo is coming off a title run for San Miguel in the Philippine Cup where he played through a calf injury. The concern, however, for Cone is how to ease Fajardo back into the scheme of things with Gilas.
“He changes the game for us. We have to play in a different way with June Mar on the floor. The only concern is that we haven't had much practice time with them. And he has such an impact that you have to kind of play differently when he's on the floor,” he added.
While Fajardo is good to go, the same cannot be said for Oftana, who, like the SMB center, played through a series of injuries in the Finals.
“We’re not sure about Calvin. The medical reports are that he might be out a little bit longer, so far that we’ve gotten,” said Cone.
“We were given a medical report from his camp. We’re not sure if he’s going to be available for the whole tournament. We’re going to try to address that today or tomorrow,” he added.
Whether or not Oftana will join the team in Jeddah is also up in the air according to Cone.
“I don't want to preempt anything at this point. That's something we need to talk to him about, the MVP group about, and see exactly how he's feeling. But at this point, I'd say it's 50-50,“ he added.