CHICAGO - As every weary Gilas Pilipinas fan knows by now, thanks to years of both happiness and suffering, putting together a national team is an incomplete art.
With the next FIBA window lurking around the corner, we are once again reminded of our basketball federation's creative flaw.
Exactly a month after the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) confirmed that Quentin Millora-Brown has been granted local status by FIBA, there is still no deal in place for the 6-foot-10, 245-lb center.
READ SBP has a lot to consider in assessing Gilas Youth, Tenorio
While we have to set allowances for due diligence to take place, the fact that the start of the World Cup qualifiers is just 74 days away, the negotiations for a national contract shouldn't move at an ice age pace or slower than the second coming of Christ.
Well, Gilas only plays lightweight Guam on November 28 and December 1 in a home-and-home duel. Perhaps the lack of an imminent threat to losing is fueling this sense of complacency in signing QMB.
Meanwhile, the attempted completion of a team that will be tasked to defend our men's basketball title in the upcoming SEA Games in Thailand this December isn't going great guns, either.
LEFT ON AN ISLAND?
Coach Norman Black is doing his darndest best to form the most lethal 12 possible but every time he gives an update on his roster it sounds more like a cry for help.
So far, eight have "committed" to play. Unfortunately, commitment is just a second cousin of confirmation, which means you can't really say for sure.
Everybody loves to play for coach Norm. He's just that guy, a sharp basketball mind who's low-key and easy to like.
But there are so many. things beyond his control.
Such as the lack of cooperation from the PBA as it pertains to lending its top players in the middle of the league's Season 50. Tim Cone probably saw the writing on the wall and decided to "prioritize" his duties with Ginebra which forced the SBP to appoint Black as the stand-in.
Another issue hindering Black is the Japan B.League teams' unwillingness to allow Matthew Wright and Bobby Ray Parks to participate in a non-FIBA sanctioned event.
CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME.
The B.League must be thinking, if the PBA doesn't even lend its own players to the SEA Games, why should we? Heck, even the MPBL isn't amused by the idea of releasing Dave Ildefonso and Jason Brickman until after their season is done.
However, the biggest issue Black is facing is the lack of bigs.
With QMB, Kai Sotto, EJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo out of the picture, where will coach Norm pluck the added size his team desperately needs?
It would be nice to defend our SEA Games gold and show our ASEAN neighbors who's the boss on the hardcourt.
But with the passport-only rule, rival teams are poised to flood their lineups with a deluge of foreign reinforcements like Cambodia did two years ago when it fielded six imports.
I'm still committed to root for Gilas, but this SEA Games campaign can be summed up with one word.
Doomed.
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