Gilas Pilipinas will get a week of preparation, tops, for the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers. This is despite the PBA hitting pause on the Governors’ Cup ever since Barangay Ginebra San Miguel completed the semifinals cast with a 110-94 victory over the San Miguel Beermen on November 10.
Why Will Gilas Pilipinas Be Short of Prep Time?
It turns out, Gilas Pilipinas can’t practice anyway even with the PBA on break. The reason? Only a third of the national team is available as of this posting—Juan Gomez de Liaño of the Converge FiberXers, Cjay Perez of the San Miguel Beermen, Chris Newsome of the Meralco Bolts, and Scottie Thompson of Ginebra.
The rest of Gilas Pilipinas, as unveiled by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, are still overseas and will be available only on November 20 at the earliest, according to national team head coach Tim Cone.
Joining JGDL, Thompson, Perez, and Newsome are the Japan B.League’s Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Kai Sotto, Mike Phillips, and Quentin Millora-Brown.; the KBL’s Rhenz Abando and Kevin Quiambao; and the Chinese Basketball Association’s Bennie Boatwright.
“Everybody else comes on the 19th or on the 20th. We won’t have a full team until we get down to Kuala Lumpur,” said Cone on Gilas Pilipinas’ preparation plans. “In my understanding, AJ [Edu], Q [Quentin Millora-Brown], and Mike Phillips are all joining us in Kuala Lumpur directly from Japan. Dwight (Ramos) is coming in a day before, and most of the guys are coming in a day before.”
No Home Training Camp
In the previous windows held abroad, Cone and Gilas Pilipinas held brief training camps in the Philippines before flying to the destination nations. This time around, however, there will be no such camp owing to the unavailability of the overseas crew.
“We will not [hold a training camp]. We could have a practice, but it would be with three or four players. It doesn’t make sense for us practicing with three or four players,” Cone added. “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 them [overseas players] earlier, we would practice earlier, but we’re not gonna get them until the 20th.”
Counting the 20th, Gilas Pilipinas will have seven days before it faces Syria first, on November 27 at Seremban in Malaysia. Powerhouse Iran follows two days later on November 29.
