‘It’s 50-50 for Gilas to finish 3rd’

MANILA, Philippines - Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes conservatively quoted even odds for the national team to take the third and last ticket to the FIBA World Championships in Spain next year with China, Iran, Jordan and Korea the likely choices to vie for top honors at the FIBA-Asia qualifiers in Manila on Aug. 1-11.

“I don’t want to sound less than upbeat but I think it’s 50-50 for us to finish third,” said Reyes. “My top two picks are China and Iran. Then, I’ll have to choose Jordan and Korea as other top contenders because we’ve always had a tough time playing them. I think it’ll be 40-60 for us to take second place and 25-75 to win it all.”

Reyes, however, isn’t casting the odds in stone. Circumstances and conditions could change along the way. The homecourt advantage is huge and Gilas hopes to be able to generate a power surge from the crowd, often called the sixth man in basketball.  

A darkhorse is Lebanon with over seven naturalized players to choose from.  At the moment, Lebanon’s priority “import” is University of North Carolina’s 6-8 Rayshawn Terry who was the Orlando Magic’s second round pick in the 2007 NBA draft. Terry, 28, has played in Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany and Ukraine. Others in the Lebanese “wait” list are 7-2 Loren Woods of Arizona, 6-9 Garnett Thompson of Providence, 6-9 William Pharis of Arkansas, 6-10 Matt Freije of Vanderbilt and 6-9 Daniel Faris of New Mexico. Still an option is 6-11 Colorado State veteran Joe Vogel who continues to play in the Lebanese league at 39.

Korea is expected to show up with a slew of Korean-Americans led by the Sandrin brothers, 6-9 Eric and 6-7 Daniel, both from Seattle Pacific University. Others in the candidates list are 5-11 Tony Akins (known as Tae Poong Chon) of Georgia Tech and 6-7 Cameron (Tae Jong Moon) Stevenson of Richmond.  Japan will probably enlist naturalized player J. R. Henderson (known as Sakuragi), a former Vancouver Grizzlies forward who suited up briefly for Mobiline in the PBA in 2000. Henderson, 36, is a 6-9 forward from UCLA. Japanese-Americans Sean Hinkley and Walter Brown Matsushima are also options for the national squad. Jordan’s star naturalized player is 6-4 Rahseim Ali Wright from the District of Columbia, an NCAA Division 2 school.

Reyes said the June 6 draw will be critical as the 16 teams are bracketed in four groups of four each. The Philippines picks 13th in the draw order after sizing up the composition of the four groups which by then will have taken in three teams apiece. The goal is to locate Gilas in a group with a top favorite like Iran or China so that for the crossover pairings in the next stages of eliminations, a tough opponent may be avoided. In the tournament format, the last placer of each group is struck out after the first stage. Then, the top three of Groups A and B are reclassified under Group E and the top three of Groups C and D reclassified under Group F. Each survivor plays three games in Groups E and F after which the top four in Groups E and F advance to the crossover knockout quarterfinals. The four winners move on to play in the knockout semifinals with the survivors disputing the championship and the losers battling for third spot. Only the top three finishers will represent Asia in the FIBA World Championships.

With the PBA ending the Commissioner’s Cup by May 24 at the latest, Gilas gets a chance to practice the entire 17-man pool for about two months before the competitions. Reyes said Gilas will train in Lithuania on June 2-16 before participating in the Jones Cup in Taipei on July 6-16. In between, Gilas plans to play in a pocket tournament in Manila in late June with one or two PBA selections and a foreign invited squad. 

Gilas team manager Butch Antonio said the lineup could probably be the tallest ever assembled for a national team with 6-10 Marcus Douthit, 6-9 Japeth Aguilar and 6-10 JuneMar Fajardo towering over the rest. “The team not only has size but also versatility,” said Antonio. “We’ve got big men who can shoot from outside and smalls who can penetrate and break down the defense. With this, the players’ commitment to follow coach Chot’s leadership and with the team playing before our countrymen in August, we have a good shot at landing in the top three.”