Quentin finally gets Gilas call-up

Big man Quentin Millora-Brown finally got his formal call-up to join the Gilas Pilipinas pool.

The 6-foot-10 University of the Philippines product has been included in the expanded 16-man Gilas pool announced by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) on Wednesday night ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers.

“We’re excited to have QMB in the pool,” SBP president Al Panlilio said.

Millora-Brown got the green light to join Gilas after he was reclassified as a local player by FIBA.

The 25-year-old athletic center will boost Gilas head coach Tim Cone’s frontline, adding energy and firepower as proven by his performance for the Macau Black Bears. Millora-Brown and the Black Bears played against Gilas in a tune-up match before the FIBA Asia Cup.     

“We got a close-up look at what he can do when he played for the Macau Black Bears and talking to coach Tim, he’s certain a guy like QMB can shine in the system that we have,” Panlilio added.

Millora-Brown could make his debut when Gilas battles Guam in a home-and-away clash in the first window later this year.

The Filipinos will travel to Guam on 28 November before hosting the Pacific islanders on 1 December.

Millora-Brown is joined in the pool by the 12 players who saw action in the recently-concluded FIBA Asia Cup in Chris Newsome, Calvin Oftana, Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, Japeth Aguilar, Kevin Quiambao, Justin Brownlee, Carl Tamayo and AJ Edu.

Naturalized center Ange Kouame, RJ Abarrientos, and 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto, who is still on his way to full recovery, are the other additions on the pool.

“Continuity is still the main priority of coach Tim Cone but we saw it fit to add a couple of pieces to the training pool,” Panlilio said.

“Obviously, Justin will still be the top choice in terms of having a naturalized player in the lineup but we need to take advantage of actually having multiple naturalized players.”

Although Kouame and Abarrientos have not yet played for Cone in Gilas, they have joined practices when the team did not have enough players so they have a good working knowledge of the systems.

On the other hand, Cone loves to have Millora-Brown on his team.

“I think he fits tremendously well within our triangle system,” Cone said in a previous interview.