FIBA Asia set in September

MANILA, Philippines – The 2015 FIBA Asia Championship is slated Sept. 23 to Oct. 3 in Wuhan, China, and whoever gets anointed new Gilas Pilipinas head coach will have two full months to prepare the national team under the new changes done in PBA Season 40 calendar.

Even before FIBA Asia released the schedule, the PBA board of governors, in its last meeting, decided to make some revisions, including the reduction of the best-of-seven semifinals in all three conferences to best-of-five affair.

At the same time, the PBA board further trimmed down the in-between conference breaks.

And thus PBA Season 40 is ending July 20 to 25, well ahead of the original target, the earliest by Aug. 15.

The PBA board is formally announcing the changes upon Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas’ naming of the Gilas Pilipinas coach.

Based on the criteria set by the SBP nominating and screening committee, the choices to man the sensitive position could be down between Tab Baldwin and Jong Uichico.

SBP officials expect their president Manny V. Pangilinan to name the new Gilas chieftain before the Christmas holidays.

“We may no longer need to again revisit our calendar with the schedule announced by FIBA Asia,” said a PBA board member.

The revised PBA calendar neither runs in conflict with the 2015 Williams Jones Cup slated Aug. 29 to Sept. 6 in Taipei.

Team Phl has been absent in the Jones Cup in the last two years. In 2013, Jones Cup organizers withdrew its invitation to Gilas Pilipinas in the aftermath of the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman in disputed waters near Batanes. This year, Gilas declined the invites as coach Chot Reyes opted to train for the World Cup in the US and in Europe.      

The 2015 Wuhan joust serves as the regional qualifier for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Japan is a traditional contender whose fate is in the balance with its suspension in the FIBA rolls.