GILAS Pilipinas’ bid for an Olympics seat look bleak after the team suffered another loss, this time to Angola on Sunday, but AJ Edu is making heads turn with his big games and just put himself a chance to realize his NBA dream.
Against the Angolans and NBA mainstay Bruno Fernando, Edu had 9 points—next only to Jordan Clarkson’s team-high 21 markers—pulled down 6 rebounds, and blocked one shot after 31 minutes of playing time.
Among the 12 Gilas players, the 6-10 Edu was the most consistent next to Clarkson.
In their 80-70 loss to Angola on Saturday, Edu shot a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and converted one of his two free throws.
The former Gilas cadet also put in decent numbers of 7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 27 minutes against the Dominican Republic on Friday—doing these mostly against seven-footer Karl Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The 23-year-old’s journey was somewhat delayed by two successive injuries but he’s still thankful that he recovered just in time and put himself in a place where he wanted to be.
“That’s the whole point. You want to be competing against these guys, especially since that’s the level I’m aspiring for,” Edu, who, just like Kai Sotto, is aspiring to make it to the NBA, slowly but surely.
“The NBA is the level I want to get to, and I need to know I can compete with the guys already there.”
Not a few observers have noticed that given the right training and more focus on defense, Edu may just make it to the big league. Especially if he got praises from Towns himself.
“He’s a fantastic player, he’s an ultra-competitor. I love the competition he brought tonight, it makes me better,” Towns said after the Dominican Republic barely defeated Gilas, 87-81.
“‘Yan ang puwedeng NBA player, may galaw at tikas,” said Reyno David, an avid Gilas fan.