Cone puts Boatwright on standby

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone welcomes having naturalization candidate and former San Miguel Beer import Bennie Boatwright join the team’s workout for the November window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifier.

The national squad is still awaiting the result of his naturalization process but Cone expressed that he would love to incorporate the 6-foot-10 Boatwright early into the Gilas program to train and learn the system.

That opportunity may come when Gilas begins its buildup for the Asia Cup qualifier against New Zealand on 21 November and Hong Kong on 24 November.

“That’s something we would explore. That would really be on him, whether he will be available,” said Cone, whose squad came off a semifinal finish in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia two weeks ago.

“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.”

However, Boatwright’s availability by November is up in the air.

Cone is keen on having Boatwright on the team especially with a 36-year-old workhorse — naturalized player Justin Brownlee — not getting any younger.

“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,” Cone said.

“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,” he added.

But for the November window, Cone will be sticking with 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),” Cone said.