Malugod na tinatanggap ni Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone ang pagkakaroon ng naturalization candidate at dating import ng San Miguel Beer na si Bennie Boatwright na sumali sa workout ng koponan para sa window ng Nobyembre ng 2025 FIBA ​​Asia Cup qualifier.

Hinihintay pa ng national squad ang resulta ng kanyang naturalization process ngunit ipinahayag ni Cone na gusto niyang isama ang 6-foot-10 Boatwright nang maaga sa programa ng Gilas para sanayin at pag-aralan ang sistema.

Maaaring dumating ang pagkakataong iyon kapag sinimulan ng Gilas ang pagbuo nito para sa Asia Cup qualifier laban sa New Zealand sa 21 Nobyembre at Hong Kong sa 24 ng Nobyembre.

“That’s something we would explore. That would really be on him, whether he will be available,” sabi ni Cone. “Obviously, if he’ll be available to come in for five or seven days and work with us for five or seven days and get a feel for us that would be awesome.”

Gayunpaman, ang availability ng Boatwright sa Nobyembre ay nasa hangin.

Si Cone ay masigasig na magkaroon ng Boatwright sa koponan lalo na sa isang 36-taong-gulang na workhorse--naturalized player na si Justin Brownlee--hindi na bumabata.

“It’s (naturalization process) still in the works. And again it’s the same thing, Justine is 36 years old, we all have to admit that. The age that I am, I hate to admit it, but we all have to admit guys get older. It’s just the reality of the situation that players get older,” sabi ni Cone.

“It’s on us to make sure that we have a continuity of continuous program, so Bennie represents that just like Carl (Tamayo) and Kevin (Quiambao) represent that for local players. Bennie represents that for the naturalized position,” dagdag niya.

Ngunit para sa window ng Nobyembre, si Cone ay mananatili kay Brownlee.

“Justin is healthy, a hundred percent right now and he’ll definitely be the guy to play in November. But if not, hopefully, Bennie will be naturalized (already because) then we use Bennie (in the November window),” sabi ni Cone.