MANILA, Philippines - Smart Gilas Pilipinas will no longer participate in the four-team pocket tournament set Aug. 24-30 in Doha, Qatar as Talk N’ Text players supposed to reinforce the Nationals are not available.
Reigning MVP Jimmy Alapag, Kelly Williams, Ranidel de Ocampo and, more recently, Larry Fonacier and Ryan Reyes are expected to join the Nationals in the weeklong meet but couldn’t make it because of the ongoing PBA finals where their team is playing Petron in the deciding Game 7 today.
This gives them only one rest day since Smart Gilas is leaving Tuesday.
“The Talk N’ Text players can’t go because they have little time to rest since their best-of-seven series would only end on Sunday (today),” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.
Smart Gilas could use the Doha tournament, which will also be participated in by the host, Lebanon and Syria, as the final tune-up tournament before they plunge into action in the FIBA-Asia Championship slated Sept. 15-25 in Wuhan, China where the winner will represent the region in the 2012 London Olympics.
Apparently, the Nationals would have to find some other alternatives.
“We’re thinking of Plan B because we really need more games for the TnT guys to adjust with us and vice versa,” said Toroman.
The cancellation of the Doha trip, meanwhile, will allow Smart Gilas players who applied for the PBA rookie draft to attend the rookie camp starting Tuesday and the draft day itself on Aug. 28 at the Robinson’s Place Manila.
The Smart Gilas players that sent their application to the annual draft were JV Casio, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Lutz, Mark Barroca, Mac Baracael, Dylan Ababou and Jason Ballesteros, who are all potential first rounders.