PATTAYA, Thailand – Gilas Pilipinas Southeast Asian Games coach Norman Black said the team remains a competitive one despite the challenges it faced during its formation owing to a dubious eligibility process by organizers.
Gilas has come up with a team composed of current and former Japan B.League players Ray Parks, Thirdy Ravena, Matthew Wright, and Jamie Malonzo, PBA players Robert Bolick, Von Pessumal, Dalph Panopio, Abu Tratter, free agent Justin Chua, and college players Allen Liwag, Cedrick Manzano, and Veejay Pre.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas later described the formation of the team as a ‘tedious back-and-forth.”
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Still, Black said the team has enough talent to be a contender for the gold medal.
“I think the process of forming a team has been difficult because of the circumstances, but we still have talented players on the team,” said Black in a pool report. “They are still quality players, so I am expecting that we will go there and we will play our best, and that will give us a chance of winning the championship.”
“But like I said, let us just take it one game at a time. Let us start off with Malaysia,” said Black.
That Malaysia game will be on December 14 at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok, followed by the match against Vietnam the following day.
Black said he has already started the process of learning about other teams, including Thailand, but is not overlooking the squads in the group stage.
Group B is composed of Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and Myanmar.
“Actually, I have seen the line-up of Vietnam. The line-up of Malaysia has not been released yet. I have not seen a copy of it. I have seen the line-up of Thailand because that was released already. I have seen some of them play on the internet, obviously, just like they are doing with us,” Black said.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino is also optimistic about the team’s chances.
“Gilas can win the title again — and I believe that,” Tolentino said on Monday after the SEA Games Federation Council Meeting last Monday. “It is still painful not to see some of our players, but Gilas Pilipinas can still do it. They will still be the champion.”
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