HELP has arrived — two players seen as cornerstones for Gilas Pilipinas leading up to the FIBA World Cup next year. But who will make the cut in a pair of qualifying matches the Filipino cagers are hard-pressed to win to salvage some measure of pride amid a whale of criticisms thrown at them?
That question gnaws at Gilas, which is set to leave for Beirut today for the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
Prized 7-foot-3 center Kai Sotto and Fil-Am NBA player Jordan Clarkson have shown up in the nationals’ practices, providing the national team training pool the much-needed boost, last Friday and Saturday at the Meralco Gym in Pasig.
Gilas battles Lebanon in Beirut this Friday and Saudi Arabia three days later at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Spearheading the 24-man pool are PBA stars such as Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson, and Arvin Tolentino, June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez of San Miguel Beer, Magnolia’s Ian Sangalang and Jio Jalalon, Chris Newsome, Allein Maliksi, and Raymond Almazan of Meralco, NLEX’s Kevin Alas and Calvin Oftana, and Jamie Malonzo and Robert Bolick of NorthPort, and free agent Roosevelt Adams.
Brothers Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena, Dwight Ramos, Bobby Ray Parks Jr., Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, and Francis Lopez complete the pool.
With the Beermen set to take on the defending Philippine Cup champions Tropang Giga in the best-of-7 finals of the PBA Philippine Cup that got going last night, Fajardo and Perez are out of the line-up.
Aguilar missed the pool’s first few practices but joined yesterday after recovering from COVID-19, while the Hotshots’ duo of Sangalang and Jalalon have reportedly begged off, with the former opting to rest and the latter recovering from a hamstring injury.
Bolick has yet to attend scrimmages.
The Philippine five wound up ninth and missed the quarterfinals of the FIBA Asia Cup last month in Jakarta for the first time since 2007.
With Reyes also calling the shots, Gilas failed to win the gold that matters most to Filipinos in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam last May.
