Naturalized player Justin Brownlee and injured newcomer Troy Rosario were given the day off as Gilas Pilipinas began a brief two-day training camp at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna on Tuesday.

Gilas program director Alfrancis Chua said they wanted the Barangay Ginebra duo to rest and recuperate before the team heads to Doha for a string of friendlies on Thursday to prime up for the third window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers happening late February.

Rosario is nursing a swollen knee he sustained during the grueling three-game Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals series against Meralco.

Brownlee, on the other hand, played through a painful foot blister in the decider last Sunday.

“We gave some of our players rest like Troy who hurt his knee while Brownlee played through a huge foot blister,” Chua said.

Gilas coach Tim Cone initially ruled Rosario doubtful for the 2nd Doha Invitational Cup running from 14 to 16 February against host Qatar, Egypt and Lebanon. Brownlee’s minutes will also be managed in the friendlies.

They, however, joined the team for some light work out and shootaround.

Gilas tapped Ginebra guard RJ Abarrientos and Ralph Cu to fill up the practice roster at Inspire but won’t be flying with the team to Doha.

“We’ll have them for training to complete the lineup while the others rest so that in the actual game against Taiwan they’ll be okay,” Chua said.

Overseas-based players Dwight Ramos and AJ Edu arrived Monday and hooked up with Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, Japeth Aguilar, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez and June Mar Fajardo at Inspire.

Chris Newsome and Carl Tamayo skipped the Laguna training and will fly directly to Doha for the friendlies.

Newsome will be coming off a game with Meralco in the East Asia Super League Wednesday in Taiwan against New Taipei Kings while Tamayo is flying from Korea.

Gilas braces for a hectic schedule leading up to the road games against Chinese-Taipei on 20 February and a much-anticipated rematch with the Tall Blacks in New Zealand three days after.

The Doha friendlies will pit Gilas against Qatar at 1:30 a.m. on 15 Februarythen clashes with Lebanon at 11 p.m. on the same day before facing Egypt at 1:30 a.m. on 17 February — all Philippine time.