So the country is sending a men’s basketball team to the Asian Games after all. That’s good news to the millions of basketball-loving Filipinos hoping to see our cage squad duking against some of the best teams in the region regardless of its composition.
This batch of national squad will be comprised by key players from Rain or Shine headed by two-time Most Valuable Player James Yap, Gabe Norwood, Raymond Almazan, Chris Tiu, Beau Belga and Mav Ahanmisi.
The other six players were requested from different teams, some of them played for Yeng Guiao one time or another either at Rain or Shine or with the national team before. Paul Lee of Magnolia used to play for Guiao at the Elasto Painters camp for five seasons before they parted ways.
Asi Taulava, the oldest player in the team at 45, was Guiao’s starting center with the Powerade Pilipinas team that played in the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship in Tianjin, China. On his way to retirement in the PBA, the 6-foot-9 cager was given one last tour of duty to serve the country.
Also included in the final 12 line up are Stanley Pringle of GlobalPort, Christian Standhardinger of San Miguel Beer, JP Erram of Blackwater and Jordan Clarkson of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Clarkson’s inclusion in the national team depends on whether he will be allowed by the NBA to play, but he is already eligible to suit up for the Philippine squad.
This will be the first time a bulk of club team from the PBA will be representing the national team in the Asian Games since 1994 when All-Filipino champion San Miguel Beer and other selected players from Purefoods like Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codiñera and Rey Evangelista, Alaska’s Johnny Abarrientos and then amateur standouts Kenneth Duremdes and Marlou Aquino, earned the right to carry the Philippine colors to the Asiad.
Seeing the country sending a team to the Asian Games gave the basketball-crazy nation a sigh of relief. Just a few weeks ago, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) decided to pull out of participation in the basketball competition and wanted to focus instead in the next window of the FIBA Asia World Cup qualifier.
Gone were the days when Philippine basketball prioritizes the Asian Games it even led us to creating the first ever all-professional team in 1990. The Filipinos had not won a gold medal since 1962, yet it should be more of a challenge for our basketball leaders to come up with a solid program aimed at reclaiming Asian glory via the Asiad basketball.
Yet we decided to become more ambitious, focusing our attention more in the World Cup and the Olympics.
But shouldn’t there be a program designed for the Asian Games, the SEA Games and other events that will not be participated by the PBA? Realistically, the PBA cannot accommodate all lined up in the basketball calendar, hence the SBP should have come up with a more concrete program.
Which led me to asking? Whatever happened to the Gilas Cadets team?
The objective of creating a Gilas Cadets team is to ensure that there would always be a standby squad in case we’ll be participating in the Asian Games and SEA Games since the PBA players are more concentrated in more elite tournaments like the FIBA Asia qualifier for the World Cup and Olympics.
But do we really have a program for the Gilas Cadets? It looks like every time we’re participating, PBA players are the ones being bothered and the pro league had to scramble for time, trying to help out SBP like a big brother coming to the aid of the aggrieved sibling.
Where are the Gilas Cadets when they are needed the most?
Rey Joble has been covering the PBA games formore than a decade. He is a member of the PBA Press Corps and Philippine Sportswriters Association.
reyjoble09@gmail.com
