SO many players have offered their services to play for the national team perhaps believing that they could help lift Gilas Pilipinas from the its current state after the national team fell woefulluy short in their FIBA Asia Cup campaign.
The surprise offer, however, came from officials of the MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) who said they are willing to lend some of their stars to the national cause.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), which is the body in charge of deciding on this matter, was not available for comment as the country prepares to assemble a squad for the Southeast Asian Games in December.
READ All these players are willing to play for Gilas at SEA Games
A source within the league bared to SPIN.ph the regional league is willing to lend some of their players for the national interest citing the need to form a strong team to retain the men’s basketball gold in the December biennial meet to be held in Thailand.
Among those who might be considered for the team are Dave Ildefonso, Geo Chiu, Archie Concepcion, Encho Serrano, Jason Brickman, Allyn Bulanadi, Larry Muyang, and probably the veteran duo of Greg Slaughter and Vic Manuel.
Ildefonso, Chiu, Brickman, and Serrano are all part of league-leaders Abra Weavers, Concepcion is with the Pampanga Giant Lanterns along with Muyang, while Bulanadi and Manuel are with the Pangasinan Heatwaves. Slaughter is with the Basilan Starhorse.
Manuel and Slaughter, incidentally, were members of the Gilas Pilipinas team that won the basketball gold medal during the 2019 SEA Games in Manila.
But there might be a problem should players of some teams make it to the finals of the MPBL in December that could fall on the same schedule as the SEA Games basketball competition.
Likely to be affected are Ildefonso and his three teammates with the Abra Weavers. The team is considered a strong contender for the MPBL championship.
The same league source added MPBL owner Manny Pacquiao is hoping the SBP consider the idea. If it happens he reportedly promised to help bankroll the preparations of the team.
But some sources say MPBL help is not neccessary as the SBP has enough players capable of winning the championship, even if the PBA can't commit to lending all of its players since its 50th season will be in full swing by then. - Gerry Ramos
Plan for Alas players to train year-round fails to fly
There are talks around the league of having Alas Pilipinas Women train together year-round to better prepare for future competitions.
It would mean taking the best players from the PVL as well as from the collegiate leagues, such as the UAAP and NCAA, to be away from their teams and train and compete solely for the national team.
This move has reportedly been flatly rejected by sources within the league who told SPIN.ph they cannot allow their players to be training year round as they have their own tournaments to play and that combining training and competition for such a long period of time will make the players too exhausted to perform their best.
These coming months, however, will still be a busy period for Alas Women as they turn their attention to preparing for the the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in December.
Besides this, many other things are on their plate. The national players are expected to rejoin their mother teams once the FIVB national team period ends on October 15, but they could not still be free of their commitment to the national squad which requires them to participate in thrice-a-week training sessions.
It is also sometime during October in which the PVL plans to stage its month-long Reinforced Conference, expected to run until late November just before the SEA Games.
There was also a late move for some Alas Women players to be lent back to their PVL teams for the week-long Invitational Conference from Aug. 21 to 31.
The players likely to be affected by this proposal are Jia de Guzman for Creamline, Vanie Gandler and Dawn Catindig for Cignal, Dell Palomata and Alleiah Malaluan for PLDT and Jen Nierva for Chery Tiggo.
However, the proposal reportedly fell through as the Invitationals — even though it's only for one week — falls within the national team training period mandated by the local and international volleyball federations. - John Mark Garcia
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