Justin Brownlee beamed upon learning that the Gilas Pilipinas team bound for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games is being tagged as the ‘Redeem Team.’
“I like it,” said the resident Ginebra import.
“The media got a rung with it though, right? If the media says it, that’s what the team’s gonna be called.”
It was the first time he’s heard of it but Brownlee is very much aware of the significance behind the billing, having kept track of the debacle that took place in Vietnam last year that sent shockwaves in the region.
The Philippines saw the end of its 31-year reign as kings of men’s basketball following a shock loss to Marques Bolden and Indonesia, 85-81.
“I kept up with last year, where they fell a little short,” said Brownlee as the Filipino dribblers settled for a SEAG silver for the first time since 1989.
That loss of epic proportions subsequently prompted the program to send its best possible unit in reclaiming lost glory, thus the construction of a 28-man pool for the regional biennial meet set on May 5-17 in Cambodia.
And Brownlee himself is bannering the roster together with June Mar Fajardo and Roger Pogoy, the only holdovers from last year’s SEAG team.
(C) PBA Images
The recently-naturalized Filipino understands the mission handed to them, and he’s all set to help the country bring the gold back home.
“I’m looking forward to helping get the gold back,” said Brownlee, who’s among the Kings players in the pool along with Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson, Christian Standhardinger, Jamie Malonzo, Stanley Pringle, and Jeremiah Gray.
“I understand that the Philippines, the last 10 or maybe 20 years, or maybe even longer from what I looked up, it’s always the Philippines,” added the three-time PBA Best Import.
“Hopefully, everything works out and we play hard, we work hard together to redeem the gold.”
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