Chot mulls Jones Cup roster

Only four players from the national team playing at the Global Hoops Summit in Las Vegas next week will likely join the squad to represent the country at the Jones Cup in Taipei starting July 22.

Coach Chot Reyes said Romel Adducul, Jay-Jay Helterbrand, Kerby Raymundo and Tony de la Cruz are the prime candidates from the Las Vegas lineup to play in Taipei.

Reyes said he is reserving eight slots in the 12-man Jones Cup roster for Talk N Text and San Miguel Beer cagers now playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Fiesta Conference Finals.

The tentative roster for the Jones Cup lists Adducul, Helterbrand, Raymundo, de la Cruz, Willie Miller, Yancy de Ocampo, Jimmy Alapag, Asi Taulava, Dondon Hontiveros, Nic Belasco, Dorian Peña and Danny Seigle. Alternate is Red Bull’s Enrico Villanueva, who is expected to be cleared by doctors after breaking his nose to lift weights and start running next week.

It’ll be a quick turnaround trip for Reyes and the four candidates who arrive in Manila from Las Vegas early morning on a Philippine Airlines flight July 23, leave for Taipei at 12 noon via Eva Air and show up for the national team’s Jones Cup debut at 8 that night.

Reyes said 10 teams are expected to participate in the Jones Cup. Among the entries are the national teams of Kazakhstan, Japan and Qatar. South Korea will send either an All-Star pro squad or its national juniors team. Russia and Germany will also be represented.

Last year, the Philippines–bankrolled by Cebuana Lhuillier and sanctioned by the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP)–finished eighth of nine teams in the Jones Cup. The team was coached by Dong Vergeire and made up of pro guests Marc Pingris and Omanzie Rodriguez, Dennis Madrid, Celino Cruz, Richie Melencio, Ricky Calimag, Ralph Rivera, Rolly Menor, Mark Magsumbol, Don Villamin, Eman Samigue and Jerry Cavan. The Filipinos lost seven games by an average of 21.4 points and bowed to runner-up Perth by 40 points. The only team the Philippines beat was a raw and raggedy German youth squad composed of boys from a basketball academy.

With a pool of 20 pros and 10 to 12 Philippine Basketball League stars, Reyes said the process of selecting players to suit up for the country in whatever international tournament is finally in place.

"The key is we now have a group of players thinking the same way, playing the same system," he noted. "Depending on the nature of the international tournament and the availability of players, we can now choose from the pool whom to send. For the top tournaments, for instance, we will select our strongest 12. In the past, we used to scramble for players and we based our selection on which sponsor was willing to pay for the trip. That process is now a thing of the past."

The team that will play in Las Vegas is made up of Adducul, Helterbrand, Raymundo, de la Cruz, Mike Cortez, Ren-Ren Ritualo, James Yap, Kelly Williams, Rich Alvarez, Sonny Thoss, Don Allado and Billy Mamaril. The players leave for Las Vegas on Thursday.

Reyes said all the players, except Yap, have been issued US visas. Yap is scheduled for an interview at the US Embassy today.

PBA commissioner Noli Eala, meanwhile, said it’s possible that two teams of players from the national pool will be sent to participate in the Sultan’s Cup in Brunei late next month. The Korean national team will likely play in the tournament as its final tuneup before the FIBA (Federation Internationale de Basketball)-Asia Championships in Doha on Sept. 8-16.

The travel, board and lodging expenses of the teams playing in the Sultan’s Cup will be shouldered by the host country.

Eala also said the proposed four-team goodwill series involving the Philippine team here on Aug. 5-10 has been scrapped.

"China and Korea won’t be able to come so there’s really no use to push through with it," said Eala.

The PBA commissioner said he will formally write Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose Cojuangco, Jr. to ask an update on negotiations for the national team to play in the FIBA-Asia Championships in Doha.

"We hope the POC will give us an indication of our chances in playing in Doha," said Eala. "If we don’t play in Doha, then there’s no rush to get our national team ready. If we’re looking at the 2007 FIBA-Asia Championships to qualify for the 2008 Olympics, maybe we can let the national players off after Brunei."

Eala admitted after FIBA suspended the Philippines from participating in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championships in Kuala Lumpur last week, he wrote FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann to reconsider.

"Yes, I wrote to Mr. Baumann with the intent of exhausting all ways for us to play so as not to jeopardize our participation in Doha," said Eala. "I asked him to reconsider and allow the team that was already in Kuala Lumpur to play. I assured Mr. Baumann of the PBA’s commitment to represent our country in the major FIBA competitions and explained our position of leaving the regional tournaments for teams of younger and developing players."

Eala’s letter was faxed to Baumann at the FIBA office in Geneva. The next day, Baumann replied, expressing appreciation for the PBA’s concern and reiterating FIBA’s decision to suspend the Philippines because of the conflict between its country affiliate, the BAP, and the POC.