Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone. Photo by Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News.

MANILA – The injury bug has hit three vital cogs of the Gilas Pilipinas squad bound for the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Latvia.

Even before their camp for the Riga Qualifiers started, Jamie Malonzo and AJ Edu were already ruled out due to their respective injuries, with the former nursing a calf injury, while the latter is recovering from a torn meniscus. 

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Even with the arrival of Japeth Aguilar and Mason Amos to their pool last February to provide some length to their depleted frontline, another key piece of the Tim Cone-coached squad was missing when they started their camp last week – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel star Scottie Thompson.

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The one-time PBA MVP is still dealing with the back issues that haunted him in the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup, and Cone admitted that he and the rest of their squad will be missing the playmaking and all-around prowess of the former Perpetual Altas main man.

"I do really, really miss Scottie. You all know how much I rely on Scottie," Coach Tim shared after their victory over the Taiwan Mustangs in a friendly faceoff, Monday evening at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

"He is such an infectious player. He infects the guys around him. He does all the things that don't show up on the scorecard so it's not that we can't find a replacement for him. We're just missing him."

And even if they try to insert a name to put in the spot that Thompson left, the two-time Grand Slam champion mentor said the void that Scottie's absence brings will be impossible to fill.

"Anybody we'd get, nobody can replace Scottie. That's just a fact of life," he said.

But even if they will compete against world No. 6 Latvia and world No. 23 Georgia with just 11 players, Cone insists that this is not a problem.

"We are going 11 strong," Coach Tim emphasized.

"I don't feel we are shorthanded at all. I'm not a guy who plays 11, or 12 guys anyway. You know me, I don't play that many guys. I'm really an eight or nine-man rotation guy. The reason you have 12 guys isn't necessarily for the game, you have 12 guys in practice or in case somebody goes down. I don't feel shorthanded at all."

"People are making a mountain out of a molehill here. It's not a big of a deal to go 11-strong, at least for me. Going with 10, or 11 guys is not an issue for us," he claimed.

Cone and his troops will be going up against Turkey and Poland later this month right before they lock horns with Latvia and Georgia starting July 3.