SBP weighs options for solid Gilas crew to 2019 FIBA World Cup

MANILA, Philippines – The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas is exploring all options to ensure the formation of a competitive Gilas Pilipinas team vying for a berth in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, including the possibility of combining a mixture of PBA and cadet players.

SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said the basketball federation is not totally closing the door on pro players suiting up for the national team again despite earlier pronouncements it will concentrate on having cadets comprising the next batch of Gilas set to compete in a series of qualifiers leading up to the world championship meet set in China two years from now.

The PBA has not yet made any official statement about making its players available once more to Gilas Pilipinas following the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, although under the new home-and-away format to be implemented by FIBA starting next week, the pro league’s playing calendar will definitely be affected should pros continue reinforcing the national team.

“Hopefully we can have some sort of a hybrid so to speak, if we can do that for some of the tournament windows. In other words puwedeng mag-mix,” said Barrios.

Although it looked simple, the SBP official stressed it’s actually a little bit complex.

Six qualifiers will be held starting Nov. 2017 until Feb 2019 to determine the 32 teams from four continents which will make up the FIBA World Cup in China.

“Butch (Antonio) has his work cut out for him. Hindi ganun kadali e, although nothing is cast in stone here,” added Barrios.

Antonio, who was a special guest along with Barrios in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday at Shakey’s Malate, agreed with the former PBA commissioner.