MANILA, Philippines — Tim Cone is confident that former University of the Philippines big man Quentin Millora-Brown will thrive under the triangle offense once he joins Gilas Pilipinas.

The American coach saw first hand how the Filipino-American slotman played during Gilas’ sendoff game against the Macau Black Bears last July 30 at the Araneta Coliseum.

While the 6-foot-10 big man has the size to match up against bigger opponents, Cone likes “QMB” because of his ability to shoot as well from the outside.

“I think he fits tremendously well within our triangle system. And I think he’s really going to enjoy playing that position in the triangle. I think our big men really enjoy being within the triangle,” Cone said during the Power and Play sports program.

And as 7-foot-3 big man Kai Sotto is still recuperating from a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) that kept him from joining Gilas in the just-concluded FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Cone sounded upbeat, knowing Gilas can have an additional young, front court player, who can bring in the size for the national tea moving forward. 

“We have a guy to slot in right there. As much as we have this program that we put together, this team that we put together, we have not had Kai and AJ (Edu) on the team at the same time in practice,” said Cone.

“And now, we get the opportunity to have that happen in the near future. Then, you add QMB to that. That’s something that we can really work off. I’m excited about it.” Cone is back on the drawing board since Gilas took a quarterfinal exit following its 84-60 lynching from Australia, which, on Monday, won its third straight FIBA Asia Cup title.

That won’t be the last face off with Australia, since the Philippines will be facing the long-time Oceania basketball powerhouse when the FIBA 2027 World Cup Asian Qualifiers begins this November.

Gilas is bracketed alongside Australia and fellow former Oceania members New Zealand and Guam.

Cone admitted the entry of QMB allows them to make some tweaks into the Gilas roster as they continue to find ways to grow as a team.

“Picking up a QMB is like picking up a number one pick in the draft for us. That’s awesome. You’ve got to make room for him. We’re going to look at the lineup and try to make tweaks here and there. Would it be smart to do a wholesale, find eight new guys? No, there are still eight, nine, 10, 11 of these guys are still the best players in the country,” stressed the 67-year-old Cone, who steered Gilas to the 2023 Asian Games men’s basketball gold.

“But there’s definitely some guys out there that might be able to contribute in a bigger role or in a more important role. And these are the things that over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to get together with the SBP and our staff, and discuss. QMB is going to obviously be one of the changes, (and) bringing Kai back into the line-up.”