MANILA, Philippines—Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone will be steering the national team in Doha in a series of friendly games with an eye on the Fiba Asia Cup 2025 in August.

The Philippines will be taking on Qatar and Lebanon on February 15 and Egypt on February 17 before competing in the Asian Qualifiers’ third leg a few days after.

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With the national team already qualified for the continental meet, Cone said that the upcoming trip would be used to formulate lineups from a replenished roster in preparation mainly for the August event and not just for the upcoming third window of the qualifiers.

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“This Doha trip will be a chance to integrate the previously injured guys, AJ Edu and Jamie Malonzo, and play games with them, as well as learn to adjust to playing without our key guy, Kai Sotto,” said Cone.

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“The basic thing is, we’re using this Doha trip as a chance to prepare, not for this immediate window because we have already qualified, but as a preparation for the Fiba Asia in August.”

Cone said if Gilas hadn’t had a perfect run so far in the Asia Qualifiers, training camp plans would be different. Instead, the team flies out for Doha on February 13 and heads straight to Taipei and New Zealand for the away games.

READ: Gilas Pilipinas looks forward to clashing vs higher-ranked teams

“To be honest, if we were not already qualified, we would not be going to Doha,” admitted Cone.

“We would instead take that time to really focus on beating Chinese Taipei and NZ.  We understand the travel will be tough going from Doha to Taipei to New Zealand in a matter of days, but the tougher the better as we prepare,” he added.

Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone, left, June Mar Fajardo, middle, and AJ Edu during practice.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

Gilas will have the services of previously injured key cogs Edu, who’s competing in the Japan B.League and Malonzo, who’s playing under Cone for the Gin Kings, as the team navigates the absence Sotto due to a torn ACL injury.

“He’ll be out for maybe a year. But, he’s young. Twenty-two. If you’re going to have it, now’s the time. At that age, he can easily recover from that. The medical profession is really amazing these days in what they can do,” Cone said of Sotto.

“Like I always say about injuries, it’s almost cruel to say it, but this has always been the philosophy, you feel bad about injuries for ten minutes, then you move on. Because there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Also missing the Qatar games is Japeth Aguilar, who will be attending to some family matters during that time period.

Gilas Pilipinas faces Chinese Taipei on February 20 in Taiwan and New Zealand on February 23.