Justin Brownlee can do a lot for Team Philippines.
The addition of three-time PBA Best Import to Gilas Pilipinas as a naturalized player has generally been perceived to be a good thing. For one, Gilas now has the luxury of playing another high-caliber reinforcement when Jordan Clarkson and Ange Kouame are not available. Second, JB continues to impress suiting up for Barangay Ginebra, and he seems to have brought the same type of effort with the men’s national basketball team.
In his first practice as a member of the Gilas pool that’s preparing for FIBA’s February window, Brownlee has already received high praise from no less than longtime Gilas tactician Chot Reyes.
According to Reyes, Justin Noypi is simply a special player, even when compared with the likes of NBA star Clarkson and decorated UAAP champion Kouame.
“Different type of player! He’s a different of player than Jordan is, different type of player than Ange is.”
To elaborate on what makes JB a distinct talent, the accomplished coach brought up what he believes is his new player’s best trait.
“But really what makes, for me, Justin special is his coachability. He’s very, very coachable, he’s a great teammate. Because of that, as we’ve seen with all great players, he just makes the people around him better,” Reyes continued.
We see no lies from that statement right there. We’ve seen it over and over again with Ginebra. Brownlee consistently gets his numbers while sharing the wealth with his teammates. As a result, he’s won six PBA titles with the NSD squad.
Well, coach Chot did say Justin Brownlee is different. Maybe it’s time we see what he really means when Gilas Pilipinas faces Lebanon and Jordan on the 24th and 27th of February in the sixth window of the FIBA World Cup Asia Qualifiers.