GILAS Pilipinas interim coach Tim Cone’s decision to tap the likes of Chris Ross, CJ Perez, Arvin Tolentino, Kevin Alas, and Marcio Lassiter as backups for the squad set to do battle in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China was a calculated risk.
Cone is counting on some sort of familiarity with the new players on the team who will make up the final 12-man line-up if and when Calvin Abueva, Jason Perkins, Terrence Romeo, and Mo Tautuaa are deemed ineligible by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee.
“We took Ross and Lassiter because they had a bit of a feel for us in the SEA Games (2019),” Cone, who called the shots for Gilas in the Southeast Asian Games in Manila in 2019, said. “We didn’t use the Triangle System as much back in the SEA Games, but we’re incorporating it more now.
“So, that’s new to them. However, the defensive philosophy, system, and techniques are very familiar to them,” he added.
The Philippine five’s chemistry and readiness for the cage tourney of the quadrennial showpiece event will be sternly tested when it takes on Korean ballclub Changwon LG Sakers in a tune-up game today at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig at 4 p.m.
In Hangzhou, Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino vowed to continue fighting for the inclusion of Abueva, Romeo, Tautuaa and Perkins on the Gilas squad.
“We will push it a thousand times, we’ll push it every time they deny it,” Tolentino said after the flag-raising ceremony for the country at the Asian Games Village (Athletes Village) yesterday afternoon.
The POC has been pushing for the four PBA players’ inclusion in the final 12 of Gilas Pilipinas for the competition that starts Wednesday next week.
The four’s inclusion started during the delegation registration meeting, or DRM, that was supposed to be done and over with for only a day last Sunday. But the procedure has dragged on two days before Saturday’s opening ceremony.
The POC also sought the inclusion of three athletes in fencing and one each in gymnastics and golf as late replacements but were denied with finality by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee or Hagoc.
They were fencers Alexa Lareabal, Hae Abella and Lee Ergina, golfer Chanelle Avaricio and gymnast Levi Jung-Ruivivar.
Tolentino led the flag-raising ceremony that formally welcomed the Philippine delegation in Hangzhou, the third city in China to host the Asian Games after Beijing in 1990 and Hangzhou in 2010.
“We’re just working on what we have now. We’re already here, we’re trying our best to form a team that will compete,” Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Al Panlilio said amid the cloud of uncertainties hanging over the quintet’s roster for the Asiad.
“Just support them. Whoever makes it to the final line-up. Let’s just support the players who are practicing.”
Cone said Tolentino, whom he coached at Ginebra, and Alas, the son of veteran tactician Louie, will jive with their teammates and adapt seamlessly.
“Arvin has experience with the Triangle–he knows it. It’s just more of a refresher for him, so he should be able to fit in seamlessly,” he said.
“It might be a bit more challenging for Kevin, but the thing about Kevin Alas is that he’s a coach’s son. A coach’s son sees the game really well, picks up things quickly, so I’m not concerned about Kevin.”
