MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas will be missing the services of Calvin Oftana in both games against Guam in the upcoming window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers due to a hamstring injury.
Gilas head coach Tim Cone confirmed the development on Wednesday.
"Calvin's our best shooter. He's out with a strained hamstring that he had in the Talk N Text practice just before we started practice here a couple of days ago. He strained his hamstring," he told ABS-CBN News on Wednesday.
"The doctors are saying he's out at least three to four weeks. So he won't be able to do any basketball activities until then. So that puts him out of the tournament," Cone added.
Oftana did not suit up for the TNT Tropang 5G in their 91-89 loss against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in Cagayan de Oro last Saturday.
READ: Rain or Shine shackles TNT in fourth quarter to complete comeback
The Gilas coach said they will not add another player to the national team pool despite the absence of Oftana.
"Right now we have 12 players and we are missing three still. Carl [Tamayo], Kevin [Quiambao] and AJ [Edu]. So we have a total pool of 15. That's not including Kai. That's not including Ange Kouame. So, and it's not including Calvin," he said.
"So eliminating those three guys, we're going to take 12 to Guam. So we will select that 12 at the end of the week. No need [to add]. We're already, we have enough players as it is right now. And it's just more to teach. And we're very happy with the guys we have," Cone added.
The Gilas coach expects Justin Brownlee to regain his form before they fly to Guam.
"Justin's great. He's doing well. He looks good. He looks healthy. He looks like he's in good shape. And he'll improve his shape over this week. And we expect him to be at 100 percent or very near 100 percent by the time we go to Guam," Cone said.
Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao, and AJ Edu were the only players not present at Gilas practice on Wednesday.
Tamayo and Quiambao are expected to arrive in the next few days, while Edu will miss most of the training camp due to his marriage.
With most of the Gilas pool in attendance for their next practice sessions, Cone expects the team to familiarize themselves again with the system.
"It's like review and reviewing stuff and then adding to it. Reviewing the old stuff because they aren't with us all the time. So guys like Junemar and CJ and Dwight Ramos, all those guys who aren't with Ginebra and don't play it out within our system, even though they've played it in the past, it's like a refresher course," he said.
Gilas will play Guam first overseas on November 28, then at home on December 1.