RUMOR: Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter should have been in Gilas Pilipinas' pool for the Fiba-Asia Men's Basketball Championship had they been made available to Chot Reyes.
FACTS: Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter, both of Petron, are the glaring omissions from the 17-man pool named on Thursday by Chot Reyes.
But multiple sources from the country's basketball hierarchy revealed both Petron stars should've been there had Reyes been given the latitude to pick more than just one player from each of the three teams under the SMC umbrella.
Reyes had long coveted Santos for his size and athleticism which the national coach felt would've been perfect for his system. In return, the Petron star said on Tuesday that he was willing to personally seek permission from SMC big bosses if he was picked by Reyes.
Apparently, it never got to that point.
On the other hand, insiders revealed Reyes felt Lassiter, one of the standouts of Rajko Toroman's Gilas teams where Reyes was an assistant, would be a welcome addition to the pool of talent at the Gilas coach's disposal in the two-guard position.
If healthy, Reyes felt Lassiter would give players like Jeff Chan, Larry Fonacier, Ryan Reyes and Gary David a lot of competition in the jostling for the two-guard spots in the team, the sources bared.
""At the very least, he would've been made part of the pool by Chot,"" the insider said.
Reyes declined to comment when asked about the issue by Spin.ph, saying the understanding within the PBA board was to focus on the players that made the lineup and not on the players who didn't.
But insiders revealed that from the PBA ballclubs with players that are being eyed for the national team, only three agreed to release more than one player to the pool - Rain or Shine, Talk 'N Text, and Globalport.
Globalport, in fact, readily gave its nod even if the request from Gilas came very late in the day, after Reyes made the decision to include Japeth Aguilar in the pool along with Batang Pier star Gary David.
Asked if Gilas made a similar request to the SMC organization, the insider was very fortright with his response.
""Yes he did.""
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph