Calvin Oftana, lone holdover from champion squad, joins Gilas in Japan

Calvin Oftana is a plug-and-play kind of standout, says national coach Tim Cone. —FIBA PHOTO

Coach Tim Cone weighed in on the pros and cons of tapping Calvin Oftana as a last-minute addition to Gilas Pilipinas for its defense of the gold in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

While Cone can offer a lot of positives of having Oftana fill the final spot originally reserved for Justin Brownlee, he does acknowledge that the injuries that forced him to miss the last two windows of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers made them think twice at first.

“Calvin was always on the list to play, but we’re uncertain of his health status,” Cone said on Wednesday, two days ahead of Gilas’ opening assignment against Bahrain.

Oftana also missed the first phase of the PBA Governors’ Cup for TNT after dealing with injuries to his hamstring and undergoing minor surgery on his toe.

The last time he saw action was in June when TNT lost to Cone’s Barangay Ginebra in the Commissioner’s Cup Finals.

But the good news for Cone was that Oftana has recently taken part in TNT’s practices, thus opening the door for him to be given the call at the 11th hour.

“He has since returned to TNT’s practice and is good to go,” Cone continued.

With that concern now resolved, Gilas is banking on Oftana’s familiarity with Cone’s system, and even his experience playing in the Asiad, in hopes of retaining the gold the Philippines won three years ago in Hangzhou, China.

Oftana is the only holdover from that squad, as Gilas was forced to field a different squad compared to the roster that swept the recent fourth window of the Asian Qualifiers.

Gilas tapped 11 PBA players for the Asiad, headlined by Robert Bolick, Adrian Nocum, Zavier Lucero and Justine Baltazar, with Brownlee as its lone naturalized player.

But Brownlee, who missed the recent Fiba window, was ruled out for the Asian Games shortly after Gilas was beaten badly by South Korea in a two-game exhibition in Suwon.

In that series, Gilas was beaten by an average of 26.5 points, and the lack of familiarity with international play seemed evident. And that is perhaps why the addition of Oftana was taken into consideration.

“Because of the system we are running and his previous experience in the window teams, he’s a plug-and-play player and will fit right in,” Cone said.

Since Cone became the Gilas coach, Oftana has been a fixture on his shallow pool, appearing in 14 games across all Fiba competitions.