CHICAGO - Already facing challenges regarding key players' availability for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games, the brave but failing attempt to put together a decent Gilas Pilipinas lineup is about to turn into a messy dumpster fire.
Per multiple sources, the organizers of the biennial conclave are seriously contemplating a reverse course on their August announcement adopting a "passport-only" eligibility rule for competing athletes.
"We cannot confirm nor deny. We are still waiting for the official guidelines," a Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the matter, told me on Wednesday morning.
READ With QMB in, Tim Cone spoiled for choice in Gilas frontline
In a separate interview, Dr. Raul Canlas, the Philippines' chef de mission for the SEA Games, said, "I have not heard reports of a reversal to FIBA eligibility rule although that is what is in the technical handbook."
Canlas added, "We have actually written two times to the organizing committee and have not received an answer yet."
Now, that's a bad omen if I ever saw one.
If this abrupt U-turn is indeed consummated, the consequences would be catastrophic for Gilas Piliinas' bid to defend its men's basketball gold medal.
SERIOUS BLOW.
"Coach Norman (Black) will lose half his team," a separate SBP source said if host Thailand implements the FIBA eligibility rule where only one naturalized player and those who have secured a Philippine passport before age 16 can play.
That would make Jason Brickman and Remy Martin ineligible. It also means only Justin Brownlee or Ange Kouame, not both, can play.
This potential adverse ruling dampens the good news that Gilas had secured the commitments of three previously unnamed players who will now join the team in the Thailand campaign.
The anticipated rule change was at least mitigated by the welcome development that Ray Parks has, I am told, supposedly gotten the permission of his mother team in the Japan B.League to rep for Gilas.
With the "ber" months upon us, coach Norman has a greater chance at catching a cold than he would catch a break while forming a team.
With Season 50 starting this Sunday he couldn't get the best PBA players. Neither could he convince Quentin Millora-Brown to come. And now this.
It's not a myth. Bad things really happen to good people.
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