NBA visitors to join Gilas in Spain

MANILA, Philippines - Several players with the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers are seeing action for different teams at the FIBA World Championships in Spain next year. The 24-nation draw in February will determine if they face Gilas in the preliminaries. Houston and Indiana tangle in the first game ever between two NBA teams in the country at the Mall of Asia Arena on Oct. 10.

Rockets star James Harden appears to be a shoo-in for the US squad as he was on the team that captured the gold medal at the London Olympics last year. Indiana’s Paul George has been mentioned as a prime candidate. Pacers guard George Hill was invited to play in a Las Vegas camp for a possible slot on the US team last July but was the only no-show of 30 because of a conflict in schedule with a commitment to conduct a series of clinics for kids. US coach Mike Krzyzewski will name 25 to 28 players as options in January or February then invite 15 to 18 to a camp in Las Vegas before the World Championships with the pool to be cut to 12 for the tournament.

Houston’s 6-7 forward Francisco Garcia will play for the Dominican Republic, fourth place qualifier at the recent FIBA Americas Championships. The Dominican Republic’s last appearance at the World Championships was in Manila in 1978. Garcia’s seven-foot teammate Donatas Motiejunas will suit up for Lithuania, second place qualifier at the FIBA European Championships. Indiana center Luis Scola will compete for Argentina, third place qualifier at the FIBA Americas Championships while teammate Ian Mahinmi is eligible to play for France, the FIBA European champion. Mahinmi, however, was not in the French squad that took the FIBA European crown recently.

In FIBA’s latest world rankings, the US was No. 1 followed by Spain, Argentina and Lithuania. France is No. 8. The Philippines had the highest jump among countries in the top 40, leapfrogging 11 slots from 45 to 34. Asian countries ahead of the Philippines in the ladder are No. 12 China, No. 20 Iran, No. 29 Lebanon, No. 30 Jordan and No. 31 South Korea. Below the Philippines are No. 35 Japan, No. 42 Qatar, No. 44 Chinese-Taipei and No. 52 Kazakhstan.

Turkey, host of the previous FIBA World Championships in 2010, did not qualify for Spain but may be offered one of four wildcard invitations as it is ranked No. 7 by FIBA. If Turkey is invited and agrees to pay the 500,000 Euro fee, Rockets’ 7-0 center Omer Asik will likely join the squad.

There are four foreigners or non-Americans in the Rockets lineup----Asik, Garcia, Montiejunas and Israel’s Omri Casspi. Jeremy Lin, who is pure Chinese born and raised in the US, is considered an American. The foreigners in the Pacers roster are Mahinmi and Scola.

It’s not certain how many players the Rockets and Pacers will bring to Manila. At the moment, Houston’s pre-season roster lists 19 players and Indiana, 17. The Rockets’ offseason recruits are 6-11, 17-year pro Marcus Camby, Casspi, 6-11 center Dwight Howard, 6-6 Reggie Williams, 6-7 Ronnie Brewer and rookies Isaiah Canaan of Murray State, Robert Covington of Tennessee State, Jordan Henriquez of Kansas State and B. J. Young of Arkansas. Indiana’s new players are 6-11 Hilton Armstrong, 6-7, 10-year veteran Rasual Butler, 6-8 Chris Copeland, 6-8 Darnell Jackson, Scola, 6-3 Donald Sloan, 6-2 C. J. Watson and rookies Solomon Hill of Arizona and 6-5 Ron Howard of Valparaiso. Sloan played as an import for Barangay Ginebra in the PBA in 2011.

Houston didn’t make it past the first round of the playoffs last season, losing to Oklahoma City in six. Harden was the leading scorer in five of the six games with Chandler Parsons taking over in Game 4 which the Rockets won, 105-103. The Rockets fell into a 0-3 hole before winning two in a row then lost to Houston, 103-94, in Game 6.

Rockets coach Kevin McHale undertook a major personnel revamp to shore up the middle with Howard, Camby and Henriquez providing a lot of ceiling. Camby, 39, was signed to a one-year contract and will guide Howard with his experience. Howard follows in the footsteps of legendary Houston centers Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming. Casspi and Covington are both 6-9 so they, too, add depth to the frontline.

Indiana coach Frank Vogel welcomes back star forward Danny Granger who played only five games last season and missed the entire playoffs. The Pacers didn’t do badly without Granger, losing to eventual champion Miami in a seven-game thriller after disposing of Atlanta and New York, both in six. The Pacers did not enjoy the homecourt advantage against the Knicks and the Heat.

A key addition to the Pacers cast is Butler who has played for Miami, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, the Los Angeles Clippers and Toronto in a 10-year NBA career. Last season, Butler played for Tulsa in the NBA D-League and was named Impact Player of the Year. The former La Salle standout is making a comeback in the NBA at 34.