RICCI Rivero, Caelum Harris, and Allen Liwag have been invited to the Gilas Pilipinas training, which had to deal with pullouts and no-shows.
Insiders confirmed the addition of the three names to the pool, hiking the list to 18 ahead of the third window of the 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers and the 2022 Fiba Asia Cup.
[See Why 4 TNT players made Chot's Gilas team to SEA Games]
Harris, 16, is a 6-foot-7 Fil-Am who committed to play for the national team back in February, while Liwag is a surprise callup with the 6-foot-6 banger coming off his first season in Emilio Aguinaldo College where he normed 9.33 points, 8.67 rebounds, and 1.67 blocks this past NCAA Season 97.
Rivero has yet to appear for the practices at Moro Lorenzo Sports Center as he remains on vacation but is expected to attend soon. Dwight Ramos also yet to return from a vacation in the US.
[See Is Nenad Vucinic taking over the Gilas job for good?]
They're not the lone names in the 18-man list who has yet to show up.
University of the Philippines shooter James Spencer has begged off from participating as he remains in Australia rehabbing his plantar fasciitis injury.
"I don't think he can join this team kasi he's injured," Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) program director Chot Reyes told Radyo5's Power and Play with Noli Eala on Saturday.
Balti pulls out
University of Santo Tomas gunner Sherwin Concepcion is poised to finally show up after the UAAP men's 3x3 tournament in Calatagan, Batangas, while there are also a handful who have yet to show up for the training.
Justine Baltazar has pulled out of the national pool as he prepares for his first professional stint, in the Japan B.League with the Hiroshima Dragonflies.
On Thursday, only eight players showed up for the training supervised by coach Nenad Vucinic, who is taking over the job temporarily while Reyes returns to his role as TNT coach at the start of the PBA season.
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