Fajardo, Castro, Abueva, Romeo eyed for Gilas 5.0

MANILA, Philippines – June Mar Fajardo and the other players who made the Mythical Five in the just-concluded PBA season are high on the list of PBA players coach Chot Reyes is eyeing to tap for the new Gilas Pilipinas pool.

Fajardo, Jayson Castro, Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo are likely to lead the 12 PBA players to be added to the 13 players earlier selected by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas from the amateur ranks.

Twelve of the 13, led by Mac Belo, Arnold Van Opstal, Kevin Ferrer and Ed Daquiaog, are going through a special draft process on Sunday, to be drafted by the 12 PBA teams.

“The Mythical Five are high on our list. But there’s a problem in June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos as they are both from San Miguel Beer. We’re allowed to pick only one player per PBA team,” said Reyes.

Among all players, Fajardo is cinch to make the team. In fact, a key consideration for Reyes in enlisting a naturalized player is that he must be somebody who can play with Fajardo.

“An option is a tall European who can shoot from the outside,” said Reyes.

SBP president Al Panlilio has earlier said they’re looking to form a pool of naturalized players. “Maybe, we can enlist one or two more on top of Andray Blatche,” Panlilio said.

Reyes, however, stressed he’s yet to craft his program as he is still awaiting ideas and inputs from members of the PBA board of governors whom he meet Thursday.

He intends to start training early next year for a busy basketball season where Gilas Pilipinas competes in the SEABA, the FIBA Asia Championship, the SEA Games, the Jones Cup and the start of the new qualifying process for the 2019 World Cup.

“We have to win the SEABA as we’re not a shoo-in in FIBA Asia. So 2017 is a fun year for us. There’s a lot to be looked forward to,” said Reyes, at the helm of Team Phl for the third time.

This time, Reyes is taking the rein at Gilas Pilipinas while also working as president and chief executive officer of TV5.

“If it’s my first time (to coach the national team), I wouldn’t have taken the twin roles. But It’s my third time already and I know what to expect, I know the requirements, I know the rigors of the job. I’ve been there and I have done that. I think it can be done,” said Reyes, bench chieftain of Team Phl in the 1997 and 2013 Asian jousts.

But Reyes said he and his family took a long, hard discussion before deciding to accept the offer to be back at Gilas.

“The time is not just the problem. It’s submitting to all the public sentiments. If you’re winning it’s positive. If you’re losing it’s negative. It’s the hardest thing our family has gone through,” Reyes explained.

“But in the end as I always like to say I’m retired from basketball coaching but not retired from serving my country. Coaching Gilas is my way to serve the country. When it was offered to me, we really couldn’t say no,” Reyes added.