Gilas 12 set for Jeddah

There was some concern that Calvin Oftana wouldn’t make the flight from Manila to Jeddah last night and either Troy Rosario or RJ Abarrientos would take his place on the 12-man Gilas roster for the FIBA Asia Cup on Aug. 5-17.  The day before the flight, Oftana’s availability was up in the air because of ankle issues that he played through in the recent PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

But in Gilas’ morning practice yesterday, Oftana was declared good to go.  Last Tuesday, Gilas took a break from practice to prepare for travel.  Team manager/assistant coach Richard Del Rosario said only 12 players were allowed for the trip so no room for reserves.  “Troy and RJ were our reserves in case of injuries so if Calvin can play, then that would leave them out,” said del Rosario.

In Gilas’ send-off game against Macau last Monday, Oftana was on the lineup but didn’t play.  June Mar Fajardo, still fresh from playing in the PBA Finals, wasn’t on the roster but sat on the bench in civvies.  CJ Perez, who joined Oftana and Fajardo in the Finals, suited up and logged 11:05 minutes, all in the second half.  Abarrientos and Rosario were on the 14-man cast but only the Ginebra rookie played, clocking 5:15 minutes.

SBP executive director Erika Dy said Gilas previously submitted an expanded roster to FIBA which published it last July 7.  Only from this pool could Gilas choose the final 12.  The pool consisted of 15 players – Fajardo, Oftana, Perez, Rosario, Abarrientos, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Jamie Malonzo, Chris Newsome, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao, Justin Brownlee and Rhenz Abando.

“Deadline is much earlier for the final roster in tournament types of FIBA competitions,” said Dy.  “Once submitted, that is pretty much it unless there is a legit injury shown up to the night of the technical meeting.  After the technical meeting, it’s final.”  The technical meeting is convened the day before the start of hostilities.

Del Rosario said FIBA allows an early list of up to 24 players for a national team in what is called the MAP or Management and Administration Platform.  MAP is FIBA’s online information system and offers a centralized stage to collect and share data between National Federations and FIBA, including player licenses.

As for Abando, Del Rosario said there was not enough time to bring him in.  “We didn’t ask Rhenz to go anymore because it was already too late to integrate him when he arrived from the Jones Cup,” said Del Rosario.

The final 12 are Fajardo, Oftana, Perez, Thompson, Aguilar, Malonzo, Newsome, Ramos, Edu, Tamayo, Quiambao and Brownlee.  If anyone among the 12 is injured from now until the eve of the tournament, a replacement may be called in but will only come from the expanded pool of 15, meaning Rosario or Abarrientos or Abando.  There must be proof of injury before a replacement is made.  Once a roster is submitted at the technical meeting, it may no longer be changed so if a player is injured during the competition, he cannot be replaced.