Gilas leaves for Europe

Only 12 players are booked on the Turkish Airlines flight from Manila to Tallinn, Estonia, via Istanbul, leaving tonight in the first leg of Gilas’ European training camp to prepare for the FIBA World Cup. The team is made up of June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, CJ Perez, Kiefer Ravena, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Jamie Malonzo, Dwight Ramos, Thirdy Ravena, Poy Erram, Rhenz Abando and AJ Edu. Ange Kouame will join the pool in time for the second leg in Kaunas, Lithuania after attending his Ateneo graduation rites on June 30.

Justin Brownlee will hook up with the squad in Tallinn from Los Angeles early Friday evening, a few hours after the team will have landed. Brownlee recently underwent a minor non-basketball-related medical procedure in Los Angeles and completed one week of rest to obtain clearance from doctors to travel. RR Pogoy, Calvin Oftana and Bobby Ray Parks will continue their rehab in Manila while Gilas is in Europe. They remain part of the training pool. Jordan Heading is still in the US for therapy to treat his back injury and will skip the Europe tour. Kai Sotto is in Los Angeles and likely to play in the NBA Summer League on July 7-17. Once Sotto is done with his NBA foray, he’ll report to the Gilas camp. Jordan Clarkson has committed six weeks to Gilas and including 17 days for the duration of the FIBA World Cup, he should be with the pool starting July 31. That would mean 25 days of training with Gilas.

Gilas head coach Chot Reyes said the reason why he assembled a 21-man pool was to cover up for injuries and other circumstances preventing players from participating in early training. “We’re going with guys who are healthy,” he said. “We don’t worry about guys who aren’t here, we’ll work with guys who’re here. It will be a test of teamwork when we bring in players down the stretch. If we take in maybe two players later, I think the 10 players who’re tight should influence them to make it easy to transition. We hope everyone comes in early enough so we don’t disrupt what we’re doing.”

The trip to Europe isn’t a joy ride. The flight from Manila to Istanbul will take about 12 1/2 hours then there’s a three-hour layover before flying 3 1/2 hours to Tallinn to arrive about noon tomorrow. On June 29, the team will travel by land to Kaunas, Lithuania and it will take about eight hours. The tour will end on July 9 and it will be another 17 1/2 hours to fly from Kaunas to Istanbul then back to Manila. Team manager Butch Antonio said at least four tune-up games are in the schedule. Being finalized are games against the national teams of Estonia and Finland and club teams from Lithuania. None of the tune-ups will be streamed or televised as they will be played behind closed doors.

Thirdy Ravena sat out Gilas’ final morning practice at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba last Tuesday to heal a cut on his toe. Ravena will be good to go in Tallinn. Also watching from the sidelines was Edu who sprained an ankle during a 2x2 training in Brisbane before flying to Manila. He hasn’t been cleared for 5x5 contact training but should be ready for full action in a week or starting in Kaunas. At Inspire, Edu participated in every drill except scrimmages and impressed with his shooting and size.