Reyes assembles solid team for FIBA Asia eliminations

MANILA, Philippines - Having formed the team he had wanted, coach Chot Reyes yesterday said he’s confident things will turn out right for Gilas Pilipinas in the 27th FIBA Asia Championship set to fire off Aug. 1.

From New Zealand, Reyes texted he’s got “A TEAM.”

“This is ‘A TEAM,’ not a collection of PBA’s best players. That’s what we have now,” the Gilas Pilipinas head coach pointed out. “I’ve never wavered from the team I wanted to build.”

The Gilas Pilipinas coaching staff and officials believe they’ve got a band of players that would watch each other’s back, and each one committed to the team’s mission to send the country back to world stage in Spain next year.

Technically, Reyes sees the Final 12 that he named Thursday as “a quick, versatile team with great outside shooters.”  

Naturalized player Marcus Douthit, no doubt, is the team’s main foundation, manning the slot with his 6-foot-10 frame.

Junmar Fajardo, another 6-foot-10 behemoth, is the second-string center while 6-foot-9 Japeth Aguilar serves as an option both at center and forward spots.

Gary David, Jeff Chan and Larry Fonacier are pure shooters while Jayson Castro, LA Tenorio and Jimmy Alapag provide the team different looks at the point guard spot.

Ranidel de Ocampo is to play a key role as a big forward who can knock in spot-up outside shots in the team’s dribble-drive motion offense.

Then there are Gabe Norwood and Marc Pingris whose primary task is to take on the likes of Samad Bahrami, Fadi El-Khatib and the other Asian hotshots. Norwood can also slide to point guard position, if necessary.

This team doesn’t lack Asian basketball experience with all but Pingris, Fajardo and Castro having been to continental competition.

Aguilar and Norwood are to see action in their third FIBA Asia Championships while Douthit, De Ocampo and Alapag are returning from their Wuhan meet tour of duty.

David, Chan, Fonacier, Norwood and Tenorio, together with Douthit and De Ocampo, have been part of the current Gilas program from last year.

Meanwhile, Gilas Pilipinas started its six-game New Zealand grind with an 82-78 win over the Hawke’s Bay Hawks at the Hastings Sports Centre in Napier, New Zealand last night.

Over in Taipei, Iran, led by veteran center Hamed Hadadi, point guard Mahdi Kamrani and Rouzbeh Arghavan, roared to a fifth straight win with a 60-55 drubbing of Japan Thursday.

South Korea bounced back from a close loss to Iran, whipping Jordan, 67-57, while USA outfought Egypt, 88-83, and Taipei A overcame Taipei B, 90-89.

Through six days of Jones Cup competition, Iran was in the lead at 5-0, followed by South Korea (5-1), Taipei A (4-1), USA (3-2), Egypt (3-3), Lebanon (2-3), Jordan (1-4), Taipei B (1-5) and Japan (0-5).

In the PBA, Air21 and Meralco have come to terms on a trade deal sending Noy Baclao and John Wilson to the Bolts’ camp in exchange for Carlo Sharma, Vic Manuel plus a future Meralco draft pick (2015 second round).