NOW WHAT?: Cone laments absence of potential Porzingis stopper

Gilas Pilipinas needs to be more “creative” at matching up with taller and athletic European teams in its quest to book a flight to the Paris Olympics.

Injury woes have made Gilas’ shot at a return to the Summer Games after 42 years of absence extra challenging with Jamie Malonzo and big man AJ Edu scratched off the roster for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia from 2-7 July.

The road to the Olympics is a steep uphill climb for Gilas as they will face world No. 6 Latvia and world No. 23 Georgia in Group A.

Snatching a win over the host squad on 3 July will be daunting, especially if Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis decides to suit up.

Gilas head coach Tim Cone would have wanted the 6-foot-10 Edu as the primary defender against the Latvian bigs.

“We had AJ Edu who was supposed to be that guy stopper to help us defend a Porzingis or other of their big guys. But we won’t have him,” Cone rued after Edu went down with a knee injury.

“So now we have to be a little bit more creative.”

Porzingis, however, is doubtful after suffering a left leg injury in Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. His status remains day-to-day as Boston tries to close the series in Game 5 on Tuesday (Manila time).

“I wouldn’t want to wish ill on anybody but it won’t bother me if Porzingis doesn’t play because of injuries,” Cone said.

Gilas will battle Georgia on 4 July.

The top two teams after the preliminary round will advance into the knock semifinals against the top two in Group B composed of Brazil, Cameroon and Montenegro.

Already qualified in the Olympics at the French capital slated from 26 July to 11 August are powerhouse United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan and France.

Gilas have been bitten by the injury bug with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel small forward Malonzo also out after sustaining a calf injury during the elimination round of the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.

Guard Scottie Thompson, meanwhile, is not yet 100 percent recovered from back issues heading into Gilas’ buildup beginning on 21 June at the Inspire Academy in Laguna.

Veteran forward Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos were tapped as replacements for the squad bannered by the core of the Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal-winning team led by Justin Brownlee, June Mar Fajardo, Chris Newsome and CJ Perez.

After a quick four-day local camp, Gilas will fly to Europe on 25 June for a couple of friendlies against the Turkish national squad and Poland.

“It’s just a matter of assessment of where we are,” Cone said of their European trip.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that we can compete at the Asian level. We can compete and do very well at the Asian level but the question for us right now is can we compete at the European level?” he added.

“Playing Poland and playing Turkey will give us an idea before going to Riga, at what level we need to be able to have some success over there.”