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2014 Prologue: Will Gilas rehash the roster for the FIBA World Cup?

It’s still early, I know.

Many of the participating countries in the upcoming FIBA World Cup this August 30-September 14 may still be in hiatus mode, but the Philippines will have an interesting dilemma once the program does resume sometime within the first quarter of this year.

Gilas Team Manager Butch Antonio once told me that training for Spain resumes by January, but after news came out that the PBA will be releasing players to the Gilas pool by the middle of the second quarter of the year, then that may have to wait a little longer. Regardless, it’s hard to imagine Coach Chot Reyes retaining the same group that won the silver medal in the 2013 FIBA Asia Cup held here now that a lot of talent is beginning to surface in the PBA and even in the PBA D-League.

To refresh our memories, let’s list down the members of the Gilas Pilipinas squad that made us proud last August:

PG 4 Jimmy Alapag (C)

PG 5 LA Tenorio

SG 6 Jeff Chan

PG/SG 7 Jayson (Castro) William

SG 8 Gary David

SF/PF9 Ranidel de Ocampo

SG/SF10 Gabe Norwood

C 11 Marcus Douthit

SG/SF 12 Larry Fonacier

C 13 June Mar Fajardo

PF 14 Japeth Aguilar

PF/C 15 Marc Pingris

If it were up to the team, they would retain the entire unit for Spain. That may still happen as a reward for those who really spilled their guts to overcome the odds and advance to the World Stage for the first time since 1986—also held in Spain, wherein the Philippines never even got to compete.

Keeping the entire group together makes sense as well. Fajardo has vastly improved since being a project last August and is neck and neck with Aguilar for the present PBA Best Player of the Conference (BPC) race. Pingris was a vital cog in San Mig Coffee’s recent PBA Governors Cup conquest where he was even feted as Finals MVP. Chan has become a cold blooded perimeter threat for the Rain or Shine Elastopainters and recently even chalked up a season high 34 points, most of which came from timely detonations from beyond the arc. Almost everyone else on the FIBA Asia squad has levelled up.

The question is: is the trip to Spain going to be a sightseeing experience for Gilas or will the Philippines actually attempt to make more than a major ripple in the grandest stage of them all?

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Coach Chot will be the first to say he intends to win the whole thing and I will be among the first to believe him. Gilas will go to there to do their best and for the first time in a while, all the stakeholders of the sport may just align to make sure the country provides its best showing.

The Philippines is the only Asian nation to ever win a medal in the FIBA World Cup—but I’m pretty sure you all know that by now. And while it may seem farfetched to many that the Philippines can duplicate or even surpass its 1954 performance in Rio de Janeiro, there is a great opportunity to give it the best effort.

However, many observers feel that the line-up needs more than a little tweaking.

You gotta hand it to Coach Chot and his staff for qualifying for the FIBA World Cup without having the best players in the country on the roster. Coach Chot called it “The Best Team”.

Well, that best team might be upgraded by tapping the services of at least five potential cagers who just might make a huge difference in a few months; five people who could accept role-player positions only to make the team better. I know many of you have your suggestions, but for now let’s take a look at these fine gentlemen who could be the five missing ingredients in what could be a legendary run by Gilas in Spain.

Greg Slaughter-C 7’0”

Automatically his name has been thrown in the mix due his vastly improved presence on the court and the addition of a semi-deadly medium range jumpshot. I get very excited over the prospect of seeing a frontcourt featuring Slaughter at the pivot, Douthit (6’11”) at the four (his natural position) and Aguilar (6’10”) at "small" forward; with Norwood (6’5”) at the deuce and Castro orchestrating. That could match well against an American trio of Dwight Howard, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant—at least in terms of ceiling; or a Spain triumvirate of the Gasol brothers and Alberto Corbacho. Slaughter was in the Gilas program more than once before and it wouldn’t take a genius to formulate that he’ll be on the final roster of Coach Chot.

Beau Belga-PF/C 6’7”

One of the things that Gilas had to compensate for during the FIBA Asia run was that their big men were not known for their outside shooting. Fine, you can say that Douthit, Aguilar and Pingris knocked down their fair share of medium range jumpers, but if there was PF/C who could stretch opposing defenses past the three-point arc, it might have made things a lot easier for the penetrations of the Gilas guards. Belga was the last player cut from the team and it came down to a choice between him and Aguilar, not Fajardo. The dimension “Big Boy Beau” brings to the table on offense is clear cut. His range would cause problems for countries that like to employ a lot of man-to-man defense and he is also deceptively quick off the dribble—as he has shown countless times in the PBA. When it comes to defense, Belga is one of those that can use his innate strength to fight through picks and outposition would-be post up players. If he were allowed into the line-up sans Douthit in the gold medal match against Iran, I seriously doubt Hamed Haddadi would have dropped all those post scores on us. Belga now has a second chance. The question is, will he be selected this time around?

Paul Lee-PG/SG 6’1”

The great part about being a player on Yeng Guiao’s squad is you won’t know who gets to start on any given night. Lee sometimes gets the start but also has a number of occasions where he comes in off the bench and still produce practically the same results for the Elastopainters. And if you know Coach Chot’s “Dribble-Drive” system, you’ll know that Lee could be tailor-fit for it. He is a gung-ho slasher but also possesses a deft touch from the outside and can burn defenders if they hesitate for just a split second. He’s also one of the stingiest defenders in the league and could do enough to rattles the Chris Pauls, Tony Parkers and Thomas Heurtels of the tournament. By watching Lee perform night in and night out, something indicates that he hasn’t even unleashed half of his full potential yet, and that’s a scary prospect for would-be Gilas opponents and an unseen blessing for the Philippine contingent.

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Calvin Abueva-SG/SF 6’3”

A lot of fans hate him—those who aren’t Alaska Aces fans, at least. It’s because he is deemed to be one of the dirtiest players in the league. “The Beast” was unanimously voted as the PBA’s Rookie of the Year last season, and among those who elected him were the numerous players he went up against. That’s the kind of respect his peers have for him, and coaches would love to have a character like Abueva on their team. He ruffles feathers, he lets them know that he either just scored on them or just stopped them from scoring and he gets into a lot of heads during the game. On the other side of that, Abueva is great team player whose plus-minus (+/-) could be off the charts. Gilas could use an energy source like him in a role-player mode for about 10-15 minutes a contest. Imagine Abueva poking the ball off of Carmelo Anthony’s hands and giving him fits every time he holds the ball. Manu Ginobili would probably be provoked into a technical foul due to the unabashed physicality Abueva would apply on him. Needless to say, Rudy Fernandez could react and send the very partial crowd into hysterics. Abueva is someone that people love to have on a team, but opposing teams would love to have him out. It’s a good thing Abueva is from the Philippines.

Arwind Santos-SF/PF 6’4”

The reigning PBA MVP is a physical anomaly that just might drive teams going up against Gilas bananas. On the outside, he looks like a guard, moves like a guard, rebounds and defends bigger forwards with ease and has the basketball IQ of a point guard. I can see Team USA initially assigning someone like James Harden on him, but then he’ll begin crashing the boards and take Harden out of that offensive/defensive safety role. Then the Americans would put someone like Paul George on him then have to re-adjust again because George got locked down on offense. He’s going to be a headache—OK, maybe only a minor one for teams like USA, Spain or Argentina—and the opposition will begin studying the Philippines brand of play instead of just attempting to roll over Gilas. Santos has been the people’s choice to be a member of the national team since day one. He’s a great locker room presence as well and I don’t see the downside in having a proven winner and leader on a team on a mission.

Other Considerations:

Asi Taulava-C 6’9”*

James Yap-SG/SF 6’4”

Kelly Williams-PF/C 6’6”*

Sonny Thoss-C 6’7”*

Jared Dillinger-SG/SF 6’4”*

Marcio Lassiter-SG/SF 6’3”*

Alex Nuyles-SF/PF 6’4”*

Chris Banchero-PG 6’0”

Matt Ganuelas-PG/SG/SF 6’5”*

Ray Parks-SG/SF 6’4”

*Former Gilas member or Gilas pool member

Of course, the next question is: who is to be dropped?

There are many allegations saying that Alapag will be the first to give up his roster spot for an additional player and that Douthit has become dispensable (although he recently inked an extension with the program last November), but all of that is still speculation at this point.

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Only twelve players will see action in Spain. It feels like a majority of the FIBA Asia team will still be called upon for national duty, but I will be among those who will be very surprised if the entire team remains intact.

It’s just the start of the year, but I’m quite sure you’re also all looking forward at the sequel of “Eleven Days in August”. And the foreword of that begins when Coach Chot announces that Gilas will return to training camp.

So who do you think you’d add to Gilas but in the same token, who do you think could be taken off the roster? It’s more fun to speculate in the Philippines.

Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com