Gilas to join FIBA Asia Cup instead of 2014 PBA Governors' Cup
Gilas Pilipinas will not be a guest team for the upcoming 2014 PBA Governors’ Cup. Even if PBA Chairman Mon Segismundo was upbeat about the idea, the other PBA Governors pushed another suggestion as they wanted to further shorten the PBA season to allow Gilas to join the FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, China this July.
“We’re continuing to explore ways of further compressing our third conference in view of allowing our Gilas team to participate in the FIBA tourney in July," said PBA Commissioner Chito Salud after the Board of Governors’ monthly meeting at the PBA Office in Libis.
“As you remember, during the last meeting we already took a look at our schedule. We adjusted it as we wanted to make sure that Gilas could leave by the tenth of July to be able to participate [in the FIBA Asia Cup].”
Immediately after the first practice of Gilas, head coach Chot Reyes already expressed his intent for the team to join the FIBA Asia Cup. Back then, he rued that the PBA schedule would not permit them to do so as the Governors’ Cup will not finish before the international competitions started. However, the PBA Board has decided to adjust their schedule once more.
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“The Board is fully supportive of the idea of giving Gilas the chance to participate in that tourney in Wuhan, China as a prep tournament,” Salud said. “With this option then, the Gilas participation in the third conference may no longer be necessary.”
The game play in the FIBA Asia Cup is more similar to the kind of action Gilas will see in the FIBA World Cup in Spain. The PBA allows more physicality in games, which will not be allowed in FIBA competitions. Playing in the PBA Governors’ Cup will help Gilas jell together but they might develop bad habits before they fly to Spain.
“Coach Chot stressed that the competition the team will get in Wuhan is more suitable as compared to participating in the third conference where he will be playing teams lacking key players such as Talk ‘N Text, Rain or Shine, and Ginebra,” Salud added in defense of the PBA Board’s suggestion.
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The PBA had a one-week break in between the Philippine Cup and the Commissioner’s Cup. Some teams struggled heading into the second conference because they have not fully adjusted to their imports. This is especially true for the teams whose import came in late.
However, the ten PBA teams will need to learn to play with their Governors’ Cup import on the fly as the break between conferences will be shorter.
“We’re looking at a three-day break between the second and the third conferences,” Salud bared. “In the compressed schedule, we will be playing ten games a week. There will be no change of format. We will still have a best of five finals but that may not be sufficient to allow Gilas to leave early.”
To fit all these games, the PBA Commissioner said they are still weighing their options on whether to have triple-headers for certain days or double-headers five times a week.
