Bennie Boatwright will banner Gilas Pilipinas in the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers later this month. It will be his first stint with the national team as a naturalized Filipino, taking the place of previous reinforcement Justin Brownlee.
Boatwright should be a welcome addition to Gilas Pilipinas, which went all-Filipino in the fourth window back in August but still managed to eke out a win against Jordan and beat Iran. National team coach Tim Cone, though, is treading cautiously and anticipates that the 6-foot-10 forward will “maybe struggle a little bit” to find his place within the system.
“He’s gonna maybe struggle a little bit with what he’s supposed to do and how he’s supposed to do it, but we’re hoping his talent will win out on that,” Cone explained about the newest addition to Gilas Pilipinas.
That struggle should be expected. Cone infamously runs the hard-to-master Triangle Offense, which usually takes some time to fully grasp. Unfortunately, time is not something Boatwright and Gilas Pilipinas have, as the former is set to join the team only a few days before the latter plunges back into action for the fifth window.
Cone Hopeful That Boatwright’s Talent Is Enough
While Boatwright could experience growing pains as he integrates himself into Gilas Pilipinas, he should still be a weapon for the Philippines when it takes on Syria and Iran. That’s what Cone is banking on, at least for this window.
“He’s a talented guy; he’s gonna lend a lot of talent to the team and size and perimeter shooting, so he’s a welcome addition,” Cone pointed out after his Barangay Ginebra San Miguel team beat the San Miguel Beermen in Game 5 of their PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinal series on Tuesday.
Cone is right. Boatwright is, indeed, talented, with a combination of size, length, and shooting that should complement Gilas Pilipinas’ potentially supersized frontcourt of AJ Edu, Kai Sotto, Mike Phillips, and Quentin Millora-Brown.
