Gilas lays out training sked

MANILA, Philippines - Gilas coach Chot Reyes is now finalizing negotiations for tune-up games to prepare for the FIBA World Cup and the goal is to play at least 15 contests before the Philippines returns to the global stage against Croatia in the first of five preliminary Group B outings in the Spanish city of Seville on Aug. 30.

Reyes is expected to name a 24-man training pool for Gilas soon as he intends to call the initial practice on the first Monday after the end of the PBA Philippine Cup finals. The PBA Board of Governors recently gave Reyes blanket authority to draft any player from any team to the pool. Since the PBA has compressed its season schedule to end as early as July 15, Reyes won’t be able to conduct full practice until after the third conference finals which has been reduced from a best-of-seven to a best-of-five series.

Holdover naturalized player Marcus Douthit will be in the pool as his contract has been extended until after the Asian Games in Incheon on Sept. 19-Oct. 4. He is expected to fly in next week. Two NBA players are now undergoing naturalization as required by law to join the Gilas pool. Either JaVale McGee of the Denver Nuggets or Andray Blatche of the Brooklyn Nets will be eligible to play for the Philippines as a naturalized player assuming their documents are approved by the Congress, Senate and the Executive Office.  McGee is currently in the injured list with a fractured left tibia so it will come down to a choice between Douthit or Blatche as FIBA allows each country to suit up only one naturalized player.

Reyes said thinking out of the box, it would be a positive development if two Gilas players could sign up with a Division II club in the Spanish league before the start of the World Cup. â€œI realize it’s a shot in the dark but let’s imagine for a moment that two of our national players are in the Spanish league,” said Reyes. â€œIt would be awesome for their individual development and also a way to generate support for Gilas from the Spanish crowd.” In Division I, there are import limitations and Spanish clubs prefer to hire Americans or Africans or Australians. But in Division II, teams are open to recruit imports of any nationality for as long as they fit within the system. If Gilas players are engaged, it would mean playing out of their PBA contracts for at least the third conference. Reyes said he understands the difficulty but still relishes the possibility.

Gilas will play its first game this year at the Mall of Asia Arena on April 6. It will be against a PBA Selection to cap the PBA All-Star Weekend.  Gilas will play with an all-Filipino cast. 

Gilas’ first tune-up tournament is the FIBA Asia Cup in China on July 11-18. Reyes will bring along Douthit, Blatche and other training pool players whose teams will have been eliminated in the PBA Governors Cup by that time. China and Iran are confirmed to play in the FIBA-Asia Cup.  Iran is headed for Spain to compete in the FIBA World Cup but China failed to qualify. 

China initially applied for a wildcard ticket to the World Cup but later withdrew because of coaching issues. Panayotis Giannakis of Greece was relieved of his coaching duties with the Chinese national team after a fifth place finish at the FIBA-Asia Championships last year and the job was offered to Lithuania’s Jonas Kazlauskas. But Kazlauskas turned down the offer, agreeing instead to coach Lithuania at the World Cup. Former national team coach Gong Luming was eventually reinstated to take over from Giannakis.

Gilas intends to arrive in Madrid early afternoon on Aug. 4. Before taking a train to Vitoria for boot camp, the players will conduct a two-hour clinic for kids from the Filipino community in Madrid in a project being organized by the Philippine Embassy through Ambassador Carlos Salinas.

Reyes said he will confer with PBA commissioner Chito Salud preparatory to submitting a training schedule for approval by the PBA Board of Governors. â€œWe are receiving a lot of invitations to participate in pocket tournaments before the World Cup,” he said. â€œIf we are not able to join, perhaps there is something we can do with the PBA to give our team more games to play.”

An option may be for Gilas to play in the Governors Cup but if that is approved by the Board, it may mean tweaking the import height restrictions. At the moment, the limit for imports in the third conference is 6-5. To prepare Gilas for the World Cup, the limit may be shelved if this option is given the go-signal.