THE Philippine men’s basketball team's frontcourt suffered a huge hit ahead of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games as Japeth Aguilar and Poy Erram haved been ruled out of the Cambodia meet.
Coaches Chot Reyes and Tim Cone said Gilas will be travelling minus the 6-foot-9 Aguilar and 6-foot-8 Erram, further depleting the inside game of a team out for redemption.
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Aguilar, according to Cone, is not yet fully recovered from the MCL injury that kept him out for majority of the PBA Governors Cup.
“He’s not ready to go yet,” said Cone of his Barangay Ginebra big man, who was tested by the team during its penultimate practice at the Meralco gym before proceeding to the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna for its rigorous, four-day training camp on Sunday.
“His target is to get ready for the World Cup. So he’s not going to be available for the SEA Games.”
Aguilar suffered the MCL injury in the eliminations of the season-ending meet, and while he did play sparing minutes during the finals against TNT, it was obvious his timing and rhythm are still off.
Erram meanwhile, also suited up in the finals for the Tropang Giga, and played a key role in the team dethroning the Kings for the championship.
But Reyes believes the big man out of Ateneo is still not 100 percent fully recovered after undergoing knee procedure in February that made him miss the entire elimination round for TNT.
“Si Erram is not 100 percent, he’s far from 100 percent,” said the Gilas coach. “If we play him, we’ll be exposing him to a lot of risk.”
The absence of the two leaves Gilas Pilipinas with only Christian Standhardinger, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and youngsters Mason Amos, and brothers Ben and Michael Philips as the team’s inside threat.
Gilas will be leaving for Cambodia on May 6 with the endgoal of regaining back the gold it lost to Indonesia during the Vietnam edition of the SEA Games last year.
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