SBP: Black will have free hand to form SEAG team
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) said Norman Black will have a free rein to build a different Gilas Pilipinas for the 2025 Southeast Asian Games.
“On the men’s side, I know it’s already been announced but coach Norman will be the one handling the team. In terms of the composition, we’re allowing him to talk to different players to come up with his roster,” SBP executive director Erika Dy said on Monday during the Pilipinas United 3×3 League presser.
National coach Tim Cone has begged off from the SEA Games post.
“Coach Norman will have preferences on which players [he wants for] the SEA Games.”
The SEA Games isn’t part of the Fiba calendar, thus no leeways will be given to Gilas’ overseas players.
This includes Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu and possibly Kai Sotto—if he’s healthy—in the Japanese B.League and Carl Tamayo and Kevin Quiambao in the Korean Basketball League.
Cone will also be mentoring Ginebra during December as the PBA calendar will most likely have its second conference in play during the regional meet.
Up in the air
Whether or not Cone would be allowing Gin Kings Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar and Justin Brownlee to reinforce the SEA Games squad is also up in the air.
“It was really supposed to be coach Tim [who would handle the SEA Games team] because we were trying to do that long-term program, but around May or June, it was decided that coach Tim won’t be coaching the SEA Games anymore so that’s when we started talking to coach Norman,” Dy said.
“The SEA Games is a bit tricky because it isn’t part of the Fiba calendar. It’s really a different tournament,” she said.
With four months left, Black may have to come up with a vastly-different national team for the regional meet.
Cone, meanwhile, will handle the regular men’s squad for the first window of the 2027 Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers in November.
