PBA board gives Chot free hand, asks him to name final 12

MANILA, Philippines – The PBA board of governors approved in a meeting today the proposal to give national coach Chot Reyes flexibility to revise the composition of his pool in the hope of forming the best and most competitive team for the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship set Aug. 1-11 at the MOA Arena in Pasay.

The league honchos also agreed to further shorten the season-ending Governors Cup to give the national team time to focus on training for the Asian joust where the top three qualify for the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.

“My proposal is one player per team in the spirit of broad and equitable representation. An addendum is if a team is willing to lend one or more players, go ahead. And if in the judgment of the coach he doesn’t need player from any team, so be it,” said PBA commissioner Chito Salud.

“We’re letting him revise the team if there’s the need. It’s his call,” Salud added.

With these parameters set, the board will call on Reyes, however, to name his final 12 plus two reserves right away so they can soon start training earnestly.

The league commissioner discusses these things with Reyes upon Gilas Pilipinas’ return from Hong Kong where they’re competing in an invitational tourney right now.

Reyes is expected to keep the core of his triumphant Jones Cup team and tap Marc Pingris, Kelly Williams, Jayson Castro and either Arwind Santos or Junmar Fajardo to fill in vacant spots.

PBA players in the Jones Cup roster were LA Tenorio, Gary David, Ranidel de Ocampo, Larry Fonacier, Jeff Chan, Gabe Norwood, Sonny Thoss, Mac Baracael, Rico Villanueva, Sol Mercado and JayR Reyes.

“It’s better for him to name his final 12 right away so that no one gets disappointed or feels bad in the end,” said one league official. “In the first place, he already knows all these players. He surely knows who will fit in or not.”

The board reached a consensus on this setup, doing away with the long process of several PBA players undergoing virtual tryout.

“And it’s easier to arrange practices of the team with this scheme,” the same official said.

In his meeting with Reyes, Salud said: “We will thresh out final schedule of practices of the national team within the parameters and guidelines laid down by the governors as per the instruction of the team owners.”

Salud said Reyes would be allowed to look for their possible training abroad.

Reyes is likely to include the 2013 Jones Cup in their calendar, and Salud said they would put these things into consideration as they compress the Governors Cup schedule.

“We will shorten the tourney as much as practicable to give the national team more time to train. Details will follow,” said Salud.