MANILA, Philippines - Without a talented foreign reinforcement in sight, Smart Gilas Pilipinas faces the specter of playing without a naturalized player in the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup next month and the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China this November.
RP’s Serbian coach Rajko Toroman said he is preparing the Nationals for the possibility of playing All-Filipino in both the 21st FIBA-Asia Champions Cup in Doha, Qatar and the Asiad without saying they’re giving up on their import hunt.
“We’ll play All-Filipino in Guangzhou if we don’t find an import in time,” said Toroman, who steered the Iranians to the 2007 FIBA-Asia Championship in Tokushima, Japan and the 2008 Beijing Olympics before accepting the RP coaching job.
Smart Gilas manager Frankie Lim, however, stressed he’s not giving up and is currently persuading some prospects in the Euro League to fill up the team’s need for an imposing big man.
“We’re not giving up, we’re doing all we can to find one,” said Lim.
If they couldn’t find an import before the Champions Cup slated May. 22-30, Toroman said they might tap a Serbian instead – 6’10” Milan Vucicevic.
Toroman also hopes Fil-Am Greg Slaughter will step up big for the team in these two big events.
“Since the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup last year when we finished fifth, Greg has improved tremendously. He’s now our first option at center position,” said Toroman.
“If we don’t find an import, we’ll be ready with Greg,” he added.
There were attempts at tapping several names but all of them opted to go for other teams. The latest was former UCLA standout seven-footer Michael Fey, who chose to go to China instead.