Japan, Gilas agree to sked changes

MANILA, Philippines - SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said recently that there will be changes in the game dates involving the Philippines and Japan during the first round of the three home-and-away windows leading to qualification for the FIBA 2019 World Cup in China.

The Philippines, Japan, Chinese-Taipei and Australia were picked to compete in Group B of the Asia/Pacific qualifiers during FIBA’s modified draw in Guangzhou last month. China, New Zealand, South Korea and Hong Kong are in Group A while Syria, Lebanon, India and Jordan comprise Group C. Iran, Qatar, Kazakhstan and Iraq make up Group D.

Of the 16 teams in the qualifiers, seven – excluding host China – will book tickets to the World Cup. The first round will feature three home-and-away windows on Nov. 20-28, Feb. 19-27 and June 25-July 3, 2018. The top three of each group advance to the second round of three more home-and-away windows on Sept. 17-25, Nov. 12-26, 2018 and Feb. 18-26, 2019.

The Philippines’ original first round schedule was Nov. 24 in Japan, Nov. 27 against Chinese-Taipei in Manila, Feb. 22 in Australia, Feb. 25 against Japan in Manila, June 29 in Chinese-Taipei and July 2 against Australia in Manila. Japan requested to advance the first game against Gilas to Nov. 23. The Philippines has agreed to Japan’s request and asked if Japan would agree to postpone the second game in Manila to Feb. 27.

Barrios said playing Japan on Nov. 23 will mean an extra day of rest in preparation for the Nov. 27 game against Chinese-Taipei and delaying the second game to Feb. 27 will allow two more days of rest from playing in Australia on Feb. 22. The travel from Manila to Sydney is an eight-hour flight compared to the trip from Manila to Tokyo which takes 4 1/2 hours.

Barrios said Gilas will play its “A” team in the qualifiers but under the terms of the Memorandum of Agreement between the PBA and SBP, the “seniors” or “veterans” may be released to the national pool only 15 days before a tournament. If the first Japan game is scheduled on Nov. 23, the release date will be Nov. 8. And since the next game will be on Nov. 27, the players may be excused from the PBA for three weeks, assuming the new season will have started before Nov. 8. 

Because of the tight schedule, it’s improbable for Gilas to train overseas like the national team did before playing at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain. “If we go by the letter of the MOA, the chances are we won’t be able to train abroad,” said Barrios. “We might be able to do it with the cadets but not with the seniors. Maybe, we could organize a simple pocket tournament during the 15-day period.” If the PBA schedules the start of the 2017-18 season after Nov. 27, the overseas training may be possible.

Barrios said the preparation for the Asia/Pacific qualifiers will come through playing in the FIBA Asia Cup in Zouk Mikael, about 20 kilometers north of Beirut, on Aug. 8-20 and a pocket tournament in Macau on Sept. 20-24. The cadets will be tapped for the Jones Cup on July 14-23 and the Southeast Asian Games on Aug. 19-31. 

The highest-ranked Asia/Pacific country, No. 10 Australia, is in the Philippines’ bracket in the World Cup qualifiers. The Philippines is ranked No. 27 while Japan and Chinese-Taipei are tied at No. 48. Another loaded bracket is Group A with No. 14 China, No. 20 New Zealand, No. 30 South Korea and No. 65 Hong Kong. Group C has unranked Syria, No. 49 Lebanon, No. 53 India and No. 28 Jordan. Group D lists No. 50 Qatar, No. 25 Iran, No. 56 Kazakhstan and unranked Iraq. Syria and Iraq qualified with Iran and Jordan out of the West Asia Championships in Amman last Jan 29-Feb 2, leaving out Palestine.

Since the next NBA season will start on Oct. 20, part of the schedule of the global qualifiers will be in direct conflict. The US team participating in the Americas qualifiers will be made up of NBA D-League players or Americans seeing action abroad. Even new US head coach Gregg Popovich will not be able to call the shots during some qualifiers because of his contract with the San Antonio Spurs. Since Australia is in the Philippines’ bracket, it will miss standouts like NBA players Dante Exum, Ben Simmons, Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova, Aron Baynes and Joe Ingles in at least the first two home-and-away windows.

If the Philippines advances to the second round, it will join the top three from Group D in another three home-and-away windows. Likely to move up from Group D are Iran, Qatar and Kazakhstan. The top three finishers of each of the two six-team groups in the second round earn slots in the World Cup plus the fourth best placer. With China an automatic entry as host, seven more Asia/Pacific countries will make it to the World Cup.