IT appears not all players Gilas Pilipinas requested from the PBA for the final window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers would be available.
League commissioner Willie Marcial admitted not all the pro players he talked to about joining the national team's bubble training at the Inspire Sports Academy have not given their commitment.
Rest and recovery from both injuries and mental stress of playing in the Philippine Cup bubble are the main reasons several of the players declined.
“Yung iba nag beg-off kasi injured sila,” said Marcial on Friday.
The league chief declined to name names or reveal numbers, but sources told SPIN.ph four or five of the PBA call-ups have already begged off.
A total of 15 to 18 names were listed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) in its wish list of pro players to be included in the Gilas training pool for the Feb. 18 to 21 qualifiers in Clark, Pampanga.
Marcial said he has already talked to most of the players in the SBP list.
“Halos lahat nakausap ko. Yung iba okay na, sasama na sa training this (January) 22,” the PBA chief said, adding NLEX guard Kiefer Ravena is already with the cadet players and the rest of the national team in Calamba as early as Sunday last week.
The 59-year-old commissioner said he’s now finalizing the list with SBP president Al S. Panlilio.
“Sila (SBP) ang mag-a-announce kung sino yung mga kasama,” added Marcial.
While the league has been supportive of all SBP programs, Marcial also understands where the players are coming from, especially after going through a similar bubble experience in the last all-Filipino conference where they were holed up for more than two months away from their families.
“Siyempre nasa players pa rin yun,” he said.
Among the early names mentioned as possible Gilas call-ups were TnT Tropang Giga stalwarts Roger Pogoy, Poy Erram, Ray Parks, and Troy Rosario, together with Matthew Wright of Phoenix and Barangay Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar.
Parks however is still recovering from the calf injury he suffered in the series opener of the Philippine Cup finals between Barangay Ginebra and TnT. The third-year guard never got to play again the entire best-of-seven series after going down with the injury.
Wright as per his Instagram account posts, is still on vacation in the US.
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