ONLY 15 of the 19 men currently inside the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba will take part in Gilas Pilipinas' campaign in the King Abdullah Cup in Jordan starting next week.
Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin made that demarcation on Tuesday as the team continues its preparations for the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup next month.
"It's the long-term vision of the program that we have to look at here. We have to take advantage of every minute of games that we can get," said Baldwin, who is also program director of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
Baldwin pressed for choice
Baldwin and the rest of the coaching staff are pressed for choice as it needs to make a decision before flying to the Middle Eastern country on Friday.
Leading those currently inside the Calamba bubble is San-En NeoPhoenix guard Thirdy Ravena, as well as returnees Rey Suerte, Matt Nieto, and Allyn Bulanadi.
The core of the Gilas team which competed in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade are also under consideration, namely naturalized center Ange Kouame, Dwight Ramos, Justine Baltazar, Isaac Go, Mike Nieto, Jordan Heading, William Navarro, SJ Belangel, RJ Abarrientos, Carl Tamayo, and Geo Chiu.
Completing the team are returnees Kemark Carino, Jaydee Tungcab, and Tzaddy Rangel.
One good thing for this buildup is that everyone in the pool are now back in full health.
"Dwight has fully recovered, while Will and Carl are recovering from their respective injuries but should be cleared within the week," said Baldwin.
That choice, however, gets harder depending on the discussions between the SBP and the handlers of Kai Sotto as the 7-foot-3 wunderkind looks at this as his final foray before heading to Australia to join the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League (NBL).
Still, it's going to be an interesting pocket tournament for the Nationals to play in against the national teams of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as well as African sides Tunisia and Egypt in the July 26 to August 1 showcase.
"We’ll be going up against quality teams with different styles compared to the ones we faced in the Asia Cup qualifiers," Baldwin said.
All of this is in preparation for the Philippines' stint in the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup, set in Indonesia from August 16 to 28.
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