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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Cone thrilled to finally have Gilas triple towers

Cone thrilled to finally have Gilas triple towers

Published Aug 26, 2026 03:33 pm

At A Glance

  • Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone is finally getting the chance to handle one of the tallest lineups in the national team history with the triple towers of Kai Sotto, AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo all available for the August window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone is finally getting the chance to handle one of the tallest lineups in the national team history with the triple towers of Kai Sotto, AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo all available for the August window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.

It will be the trio’s first time playing under Cone and together since the 2023 FIBA World Cup under former coach Chot Reyes.

“I'm really excited about that. Those guys, they complement each other, I think, very well. And I think it's fun. And you add June Mar to the mix. We've got a real good big man rotation,” said Cone.

The veteran mentor only had Fajardo and Sotto during the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament in Latvia and the Asia Cup qualifiers while Cone only had Fajardo and Edu during the World Cup qualifiers after Sotto sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

The 6-foot-10 Edu and the 7-foot-3 Sotto, according to Cone, are versatile enough to play together and alongside a pure center like Fajardo.

“AJ and Kai are both versatile enough to play the four positions so it gives us a little bit of versatility in our front line. How much that's used, we're still debating on that,” said Cone. 

“But that gives us versatility depending on our opponent,” he added. 

The frontline lineup, however, was only made possible after the team convinced Fajardo, who is already heading into Gilas retirement, to play for one more window.

For Cone, Fajardo can still be a force to reckon with especially against true Asian teams like Jordan and Iran, unlike Australia and New Zealand from Oceania.

“We felt that at this level, when we're playing true Asian teams. Middle Eastern teams.

When we're not playing Oceania teams. We feel June Mar can make a bigger impact in teams like this,” explained Cone.

Having a taller lineup, however, doesn’t guarantee a win for Gilas especially with the absence of Justin Brownlee — a void that the Nationals still need to fill to stay in the hunt for the World Cup ticket.

Related Tags

Gilas Pilipinas Tim Cone Kai Sotto June Mar Fajardo AJ Edu
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