Aguilar's Replacement is In: Justin Chua Joins Gilas Pool

As it is, the 24-man training pool of Gilas Pilipinas is like a tree during the fall season when the leaves begin to fall onto the ground.

Two longtime Gilas big men, Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger begged off from the pool because the latter is going on an extended honeymoon while the latter is still dealing with a nagging knee injury. Then, Matthew Wright has conflicting schedules and Ray Parks has to sort his PBA future with whoever team he wants to play in the upcoming 45th season of the PBA. And oh, the two best centers in the PBA? One is out possibly for the entire season due to a shin injury while the other one has decided to take a break to learn more aspects of himself. And by the way, Mac Belo also begged off from the pool due to a knee injury of his own.

Clearly, the coaching staff of Gilas Pilipinas led by interim Coach Mark Dickel cannot catch a break nowadays. And they just did.

In a surprising turn of events, Gilas Pilipinas just added a young but experience PBA big man in the training pool for the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers on the 20th and the 23rd: Justin Chua of the Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters. 

Incidentally, Chua, like Thirdy and Kiefer Ravena, Matt and Mike Nieto, Isaac Go, Dwight Ramos, Dave Ildefonso, and JP Erram are also included in the pool and all of them are products of the Ateneo basketball program. With these players, Mark Dickel could already form a line up of all Ateneo players and this could happen considering that Tab Baldwin and Sandy Arespacochaga are also included in the coaching staff.

But setting aside the Ateneo, why is Justin Chua the ideal choice to replace Japeth Aguilar?

For one, his inclusion to the pool will give Mark Dickel an additional option for a big man who has already proven his worth in the PBA even with his numbers saying otherwise. At a still prime age of 30 years-old, Chua gives Gilas another big man who is willing to do the dirty works under the baskets. While he only averaged 6 points and 3 rebounds per game during the 2019-2020 Governors' Cup, there are some things that Chua can do that you don't simply see in the box score.  

And if Chua will do good in the first window of the Asia Cup qualifiers, he might be able to see an increase in his PBA value as well as garner more experience playing against international teams.  

Now, if Aguilar's replacement is Justin Chua? Who would replace the rest of those who previously withdrew? 

Time's ticking, Gilas.

Photo is from inquirer.net