Breaking down the 16-man pool

National team coach Chot Reyes has submitted his wish list of 16 PBA players that he wants to comprise the national pool from which the Philippine team to the 2013 FIBA-Asia Championships will be chosen.

There were a few surprises in the list, but overall I think it does contain the best six or seven players in the land. The biggest surprise was probably the inclusion of Barangay Ginebra big man Rico Villanueva, who doesn't even start for his team and who was even benched in a couple of games this conference. Personally I would have wanted to see Meralco's Mac Cardona included, since his repertoire of kontra-tiempo offensive moves could prove useful against the taller teams in Asia, and since you always want at least one player on your team who can get into your opponents' heads.

Coach Chot clarified via Twitter that naturalized player Marcus Douthit was in the pool, which is good news because we will need all the height we can get, even as news also broke out that the naturalization papers of Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee were already being processed.

As expected, Reyes named several of his Talk 'N Text players to the pool, a move which neither surprised nor bothered me. When forming a team from scratch, a coach will always want to include as many players as possible who are familiar with his system, since you'll only be together for a short time and you need to work on chemistry right away. Also, it's not yet a sure thing that all six TNT players will make the final 12-man cut, so no need to cry favoritism at this point.

Anyway, let's see how the pool stacks up at each position.

Point guards: Jimmy Alapag (TNT), Alex Cabagnot (Petron) Jason Castro (TNT), and LA Tenorio (Alaska).

You can't go wrong with this rotation. All four are very capable court generals who can run the offense, hit it from the outside and create their own shots, and all of them are crunch-time players who aren't afraid to take the big shot at the end. A team hardly ever goes beyond three point guards, though, so at least one of these four most probably won't make it. Personally I like how Castro has really leveled up this season and become a big-time player. At the same time, I've always been a fan of both Alapag and Cabagnot, while Tenorio, even though his scoring has gone down a bit this season, is such a clutch player that he can certainly make a strong case for his inclusion. This will perhaps be the toughest position that Coach Chot will need to decide on.

The one player who could have also been included: JV Casio (Powerade)

Wings: Gary David (Powerade), Larry Fonacier (TNT), Marcio Lassiter (Powerade), Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine), Ryan Reyes (TNT), and James Yap (B-Meg).

No surprises with David and Yap, the former being the best scorer in the league right now and the latter having the quickest release plus the size to match up well against other shooting guards in the region. Lassiter also deserves his spot since he's one of the best perimeter defenders in the PBA, and is already used to international play. As for Norwood, he might be a surprise choice for some, but remember that it was Reyes who recruited him for the PBA-backed national team in 2007 when he was fresh from a Final Four stint with George Mason. He also has the height (six-five) to play small forward in the international level.

Fonacier and Reyes are intriguing choices at shooting guard. Fonacier is a knockdown shooter, which will be useful against zone defenses, while Reyes is a good one-on-one defender who can also hit the three. Coach Chot will most likely settle on four or five wingmen, so at least one of these players will most likely be dropped. It will be another tough choice, and it will probably all boil down to how they perform over the next several months.

The one player who could have also been included: Macmac Cardona (Meralco)

Bigs: Ranidel De Ocampo (TNT,) Marc Pingris (B-Meg), Arwind Santos (Petron), Sonny Thoss (Alaska), Rico Villanueva (Ginebra) and Kelly Williams (TNT).

Take note that either Douthit or McGee will be the starting center of the team, so as many as two of these bigs might not make the final cut. I'd say De Ocampo and Santos would be useful in the FIBA-Asia because they're both big men who can shoot from three-point distance. Thoss has the height and midrange shooting touch, while Williams is perhaps the most athletic big man in the PBA today. That would make Pingris and Villanueva the odd men out, Villanueva perhaps more than Pingris, since the B-Meg power forward can at least run the floor well.

The one player who could have also been included: No one really comes to mind, although a part of me is thinking someone like Beau Belga could be useful as your resident enforcer/tough guy who will make opposing players think twice about attacking the basket.

Of course, this 16-man pool won't mean much if the players aren't released by their mother teams, and there's legitimate cause for concern about the availability of SMC players Cabagnot, Santos, Yap, Pingris, and Villanueva. Reyes mentioned via Twitter that the next step is to get all 16 to sign a letter of commitment, which I think is a good move. At least this early we'll get an idea on who's really committed, although like every other Filipino basketball fan, I'm hoping all the players make themselves available.

E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com. Twitter: @Sid_Ventura.