Gilas should not replace Blatche with Brownlee

(c) PBA Media Bureau

The clamor for Justin Brownlee as the next Gilas naturalized player is growing. Especially with the suspension of Andray Blatche.

Brownlee is no doubt a great import. He is capable of dominating the PBA on both ends of the court. He averaged 26.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 45% FG per game. It speaks about the well-roundedness of his game. 


Can he dominate the international game? I will bet he can. 

But, I am still against naturalizing Justin Brownlee for our national basketball team. It is not because of his play in the court, it is about the other aspects that our national team should consider.

#1 Age
Justin is already 30 years old. He relies too much on his athleticism that his play could regress as early as next season. 

Watch him play in the PBA and you will see that he is effective because he is great in maximizing his size, speed, strength and jumping ability. 

Father time will always defeat athleticism. So, Brownlee may only have around three more seasons of elite play. 

And remember that in international play, chemistry and cohesion need a lot of time to build. The current state of our national team may even make it harder to develop a cohesive unit.

I think, Gilas needs a pretty young naturalize player. If they can find someone who is 27 years old or younger, they should go for that guy.

#2 The Position
Brownlee plays in the wing and if we take him in, we will fail to maximize a very strong position. Remember that Bobby Ray Parks will soon takeover our national team. 

Let us not forget about Matthew Wright, Troy Rike and Troy Rosario who could be solid wing players for our national team for the next decade.

Getting a naturalize import who will eat up around 30 minutes per game out of the wing position will derail the development of this promising core of guys.

On the other hand, we will need then to settle for all-locals frontline. Unfortunately, we still do not have a local giant who can shoot three, consistently.

Playing Japeth Aguilar and Junemar Fajardo will help in terms of size but that will not fit the modern way of basketball and our dribble-drive system.

So, what kind of player do we need? 

We need someone who can play the PF position, athletic, capable of protecting the rim, can shoot from the outside and can handle the ball.