SBP, PBA to work on Philippines Gilas sked

MANILA, Philippines - It won’t be long before the SBP and PBA iron out a coordinated schedule to provide Gilas with the best available pro players without severely disrupting the conduct of the league’s tournaments.

SBP president Al Panlilio said the vibes were “positive” when he submitted Gilas coach Chot Reyes’ wish list of competitions up to the FIBA World Cup qualifying home-and-away windows at a PBA Board of Governors meeting last Monday. The Board designated PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa to confer with Reyes in coming up with a timetable that will be later presented to the Governors for approval.

“The Board is committed to stand behind the MOA which the PBA and SBP agreed to with regard to supporting the national team,” said Panlilio. “We all want to work together for our country. The issue is how much time to set aside to train or prepare Gilas for the coming tournaments.”

Panlilio, Narvasa and Reyes met for two hours the other day to review the Gilas calendar. “No issues at all,” said Panlilio. “MOA will be complied with. Chot shared the calendar and we don’t see any major problem with it. Commissioner Chito will update the Board (on the meeting). The proposed tournaments and rosters follow the MOA guidelines.”

The critical tournament is the FIBA World Cup qualifiers which will assemble 16 Asia/Pacific countries to vie for seven tickets to the China conclave in 2019 via six home-and-away windows starting in November. Before the qualifiers, Gilas is lined up to play in the Jones Cup in Taipei on July 14-23, the FIBA Asia Cup in Zouk Mikael, Lebanon on Aug. 8-20, the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 19-31 and an Asian league pocket tournament in Macau on Sept. 20-24.

Under the MOA terms, the PBA will cede the “cadet” rookies to Gilas 60 days and “veterans” 15 days before a tournament. The MOA specified the coverage to include all “elite international tournaments” like the Olympics, World Cup, FIBA Asia Cup, the Asian Games and their qualifying competitions. Since the SEABA tournament was a qualifier for the FIBA Asia Cup, it was covered by the MOA. The SEA Games were not singled out as an “elite international tournament.”

Panlilio said the plan is to deploy cadets for the Jones Cup and the Asian league with their proposed release from the PBA 52 days before a tournament instead of 60. PBA veterans will be in the roster for the FIBA Asia Cup.

At the moment, the PBA has not set the opening of the 2017-18 season, pending the agreement on when exactly to cede the “cadets” and “veterans” to Gilas. SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said the objective of the exercise to agree on a coordinated schedule is “to serve the country best.” Regarding the SEA Games, Barrios said the goal is to field a “winning” team to clinch the gold medal with the understanding that it will be composed mainly of “cadets.”