Toroman picks Iranians, Lebanese

MANILA, Philippines - Smart Gilas Pilipinas coach Rajko Toroman has tapped back-to-back champion Mahram of Iran and Lebanon’s Al Riyadi as the teams to beat in the 22nd FIBA-Asia Champions Cup which gets going this Sunday at the Philsports Arena.

He’s got good reasons to be wary of the two cage powers.

The Iranians and Lebanese are bringing with them rosters headed by members of their national teams and imports with impressive credentials, further firming up their claim as the top favorites in the May 28-June 5 meet.

“Iran and Lebanon will be bringing in some of the members of their national teams,” said Toroman, well-versed in both Asian and international basketball since steering the Iran national team to the FIBA-Asian men’s championship in 2007 that served as its ticket meal to the Beijing Olympics a year after.

NBA veteran Loren Woods will reportedly suit up for Al Riyadi after helping Mahram-Iran retain the Champions Cup last year.

Selected in the second round of the 2001 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, the 7-foot-2 center out of Wake Forest, also had stints with the Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets.

After a year of playing with Mahram, Woods, 32, signed up with Al Riyadi last October and averaged 14.3 points and 14.3 rebounds in the Lebanese Basketball League.

Lebanon will also lean on naturalized cager Joe Vogel, who was selected in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics. He is the current team captain of Al Riyadi and will be joined in by fellow nationals Ali Mahmoud, Ali Fakhredine and Nour Jean Abdel.

Toroman also hinted at the possibility of 6-foot-6 veteran Fadi El-Khatib, considered the pillar of Lebanese basketball, joining the team in the nine-day tournament won three times by Lebanon.

And then, there’s four-time, defending champion Iran.

The Iranians have tapped again four key players from last year’s champion squad, including former national team stalwart Samad Nikkah Bahrami, Mehrad Atashi, Kayeh Nourafza, and Mehdi Kamrani, the starting point guard of the Iran national team.

Like Al Riyadi, Mahram also has a rich basketball tradition in the Iran Basketball Super League, where it has won three championships from 2007 to 2010. It also bagged two West Asian Cup titles.

Iran actually won the last four stagings of the meet featuring the best club teams around Asia, with Sabah Battery of Tehran bagging the titles in 2007 and 2008, before Mahram did its share in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

The four championships snared by Iran tied with the Philippines for the most titles won in the event that began in 1981 in Hong Kong.