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| Former NBA champion Jack White joins Australia for the second window of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers. AP (file photo) |
MANILA—Although "not overly big" as what coach Tim Cone projected, Gilas Pilipinas will expect a tough fight from Australia, especially down low, as the Philippine team tries to solve the interior puzzle without Kai Sotto and Quentin Millora-Brown in the second window of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
Australia announced on Wednesday that it will parade three big men about June Mar Fajardo's size for the upcoming window, where it will first travel to Guam before facing Gilas at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Leading the Boomers' tall order is seven-footer Sam Froling, and he is joined by Jacob Holt and David Okwera, both listed at 6-feet-10.
With Fajardo as the only legitimate center and AJ Edu, a natural power forward, likely to play more of Position 5 as well with Sotto and Millora-Brown's absences, Gilas will need to exert more effort to contain the three centers.
Six-foot-nine Nick Kay, who has been banging bodies with Edu in the Japan B.League, also joins Australia's FIBA WCQ squad, while six-foot-eight Kody Stattmann and six-foot-seven Jack White complete the list of the Boomers who are two meters tall at least.
White, now playing for Mersin in the Turkish league, was a member of the 2022-2023 Denver Nuggets team that won its first NBA title, led by superstars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
Mitch Creek and Tanner Krebs bolster Stattmann and White at the wings, while Elijah Pepper, Reyne Smith, Isaac White, and Tom Wilson make up the Boomers' main guard rotation.
Wilson had a short stint with Southern Methodist University, led by NBA champion coach Larry Brown in 2016, before turning pro the following year.
Wilson also had a short run in Australian football, playing eight games within his last three years for Collingwood in the AFL.
New Zealand has yet to reveal its own lineup that will face Gilas in the second window, also at the MOA Arena, but over the years, the Tall Blacks' average size has been at par with that of Gilas.
"New Zealand and Australia are big teams, but not overly big. They're not the Europeans, where they have seven-footers. That doesn't strike a lot of fear into us in terms of their size. We can still compete with our size despite the fact that we may come with a smaller team," Cone said.
Only four players are listed at two meters or taller for Gilas in its current 14-man pool: Fajardo, Edu, Balti Baltazar, and Troy Rosario.
