PBA down to 4 reps in latest Gilas squad
Only four PBA players will make up the Gilas Pilipinas squad that will head to Seremban, Malaysia, for another crucial set of games in the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Barangay Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson, Converge’s Juan Gomez de Liaño, San Miguel Beer’s CJ Perez and Meralco’s Chris Newsome comprise a third of the 12-man roster for the fifth window slated later this month.
And with the bulk of the team to join the Gilas camp in Malaysia next week, Gilas coach Tim Cone said it won’t be practical to hold initial practices in Manila.
“It doesn’t make sense for us practicing with three or four players,” Cone said. “The PBA guys, we could have practices with them, but again it’s only three or four players, and everybody else is from overseas.”
“If we could get [the other players to arrive] earlier, we would practice earlier, but we’re not gonna get them until the 20th,” added Cone.
The PBA went on pause after the conclusion of the Governors’ Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday, and will not resume until Dec. 4—when the semifinals get underway. Of the four PBA players in the Gilas squad, only Thompson and Gomez de Liaño will see action in the semifinals.
The latest break was made to ensure Gilas has ample time to prepare for the upcoming window, set for Nov. 27, with a game against Syria and Nov. 29 against Iran.
PBA standouts used to comprise almost half the Gilas squad, but San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo has retired from international play, while TNT’s Calvin Oftana is skipping the upcoming window for the birth of their second child with wife Ena.
Converge’s Justine Baltazar and Justine Arana, and Ginebra’s RJ Abarrientos and Troy Rosario, have also been part of past windows for Gilas.
Meanwhile, Ginebra, TNT, Converge and NLEX will have to make the most of the three-week break to prepare for the semis.
Ginebra and TNT are going to square off in a best-of-five series, while Converge and NLEX meet in the other semis affair.
TNT and NLEX have not played since Halloween, when they swept their respective quarterfinal foes, Magnolia and Phoenix. Converge eliminated Rain or Shine on Nov. 6, and Ginebra edged out San Miguel on Tuesday.
The 23-day break is the latest stoppage for the season-ending conference. The Governors’ Cup group stage went on hiatus from mid-August to early October due to Gilas’ campaign in the fourth window of the Asian Qualifiers and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Another window, the final one of the Qualifiers, is in February—moving the start of the 51st season to March 7. Coaches LA Tenorio of Magnolia and Yeng Guiao of Rain or Shine have urged the league to move the opener to an earlier date, saying the long offseason would be detrimental for teams already eliminated.
