Chris Newsome and the rest of the Meralco Bolts will represent both the Philippines and the PBA in the upcoming Basketball Champions League: Asia Tournament from June 9 to June 15.
No TNT, No Problem
Despite having the TNT Tropang Giga, now renamed as TNT Tropang 5G, be the current back-to-back champions of the 49th season of the PBA, it will be their sister franchise, Meralco Bolts plays in the BCL Asia.
Formerly known as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, but prior to that name, it was called the ABC Champions Cup as well as the Asian Basketball Club Championship when FIBA Asia was still labeled as the Asian Basketball Confederation.
This will be a challenge for the Bolts as the PBA has already altered their Philippine Cup schedule in order to give way for the Season 48 PH Cup champs to focus and prepare for this tournament.
Chris Newsome, Chris Banchero and Cliff Hodge as Locals
Team Captain, Chris Newsome, as well as other vets from the squad, Hodge and Bachero, are cleared to play as locals in this tournament, considering this is a FIBA-sanctioned tournament.
FIBA is strict with its eligibility rules for players representing their countries. But as reported by Sir Reuben Terrado of Spin.ph, Head Coach Luigi Trillo emphasized that these Fil-Ams have stayed in the Philippines as citizens for the past decade, making the eligibility rules not affect them.
During the 2018 FIBA Asia Champions Cup, neither Newsome nor Hodge were cleared to play because of the FIBA rule that says players must apply and get their country’s passport before turning the age of 16 years old.
However, their 6-foot-9 center Brandon Bates will be the one to suffer the consequences of this rule, as he has only played and stayed in the PBA for two years.
The team must decide who they shall bring as this contest only allows 9 locals and 3 imports to fill in their lineup.
With 2 Chris and Cliff taking the 3 spots, who shall take the remaining slots?
Ange Kouame as Import? Who Else?
As reported by Jan Ballesteros of One Sports, the Meralco Bolts Head Coach says they’re eyeing “an opportunity with higher-level guys” for their reinforcements in this tournament.
Each team in BCL is allowed to have as many as 3 reinforcements in their team, it could also be 2 imports and 1 naturalized player.
So when asked if they are interested in picking Ange Kouame as one of their imports, considering he has played for Gilas back then as well as in Meralco in their East Asia Super League, Coach Trillo said…
“Ange is always part of us in the EASL. I’m sure he’ll be thought about. But to be good here in this competition, there might be other options that we have,”.
Not having Brandon Bates will be a tough challenge for them, considering this would be an international competition. Having the 6-foot-11 Ange Kouame can definitely fill their void in the frontcourt.
“But here, it’s a two-week tournament. We’ll have other… maybe an opportunity with higher-level guys. So we have a couple in mind who’re trying to ink that out. Some of you may know, but we don’t want to say anything until we sign them up,” said the coach who also gave the 2013 Alaska Aces their last title in the PBA.
In the last season of EASL, aside from Kouame, the Bolts tapped the services of DJ Kennedy, Akil Mitchell, and, for a brief moment of time, their resident import, Allen Durham.
Whoever it may be, the team must decide quickly since there’s less than a month left before the competition begins.
