NBA stars eyed for Gilas due July 1

MADRID – Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee, who has visited the Philippines twice, is the top candidate to play for Gilas as a naturalized citizen at the FIBA World Cup in Spain on Aug. 30-Sept. 14 but with a fractured left tibia limiting his NBA season to only five games so far, it appears the job may just land in the laps of Andray Blatche of the Brooklyn Nets with Marcus Douthit as back-up.

FIBA rules allow only one naturalized player per country. At the coming World Cup, several naturalized players are expected to display their wares, including Puerto Rico’s John Holland of Boston University, Croatia’s Dontaye Draper of the College of Charleston, Brazil’s Larry Taylor of Missouri Western, Spain’s Serge Ibaka of the Congo or Nicola Mirotic of Montenegro, Ukraine’s Pooh Jeter of the University of Portland, Korea’s Eric Sandrin of Seattle Pacific, Angola’s Reggie Moore of Oral Roberts University, Egypt’s Omar Samhan of St. Mary’s College and Senegal’s Louis Adams of South Carolina State.

Gilas coach Chot Reyes said the other day he has advised McGee and Blatche to fly to Manila by July 1 to start training. Douthit may plane in earlier. Reyes will start Mondays-only weekly practice after the PBA Philippine Cup finals. McGee, Blatche and Douthit will be named to Gilas’ 24-man lineup for submission to FIBA on and before the June 30 deadline. SBP deputy executive director Bernie Atienza earlier said the deadline to submit the 24-man lineup is on July 30. The deadline is now being checked with FIBA.

Reyes said he was advised by the PBA Board of Governors to name anyone from the league to the Gilas training pool. There are now 12 PBA players in the pool plus Douthit, McGee and Blatche. The speculation is five cadet players (Louie Alas, Garvo Lanete, Matt Ganuelas and Jake and Ronald Pascual), Barangay Ginebra center Greg Slaughter, Petron’s Marcio Lassiter, Globalport’s Jay Washington and Alaska’s Sonny Thoss will be added to the roster. Reyes declined to comment on the composition of the pool pending notification of the players. The immediate goal is to whip up a team to play in the FIBA-Asia Cup in China on July 11-19. If Gilas plays in the tournament, it will be the national team debut for either McGee or Blatche assuming Douthit isn’t elevated to the cast.

Rep. Robbie Puno has filed a bill to naturalize McGee and Blatche but it must be approved by Congress, Senate and the President before the deadline falls to submit the 24-man cast. If McGee is injured and Blatche is unavailable, a source said 6-11 Denver Nuggets center Anthony Randolph, 24, may be tapped as a replacement. It’s not certain if Puno will add Randolph’s name to the candidates list for naturalization.

“Time is now one of our hurdles in getting this done and I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” Puno told The Star. “Congress will be adjourned from March 15 to May 4 and then again from June 14 to July 27. So I’m hoping we can get these bills through the Justice Committee and passed on second and third readings in the House by March 14 so as to give the Senate plenty of time to work on them after the break. Even at that, we have a tight timetable because even assuming the House and the Senate pass the bill quickly, the President has to sign them into law and that takes time as well.”

Former Rep. Eddie Gullas, a long-time basketball advocate, said he has asked his grandson Rep. Gerald Anthony (Samsam) Vargas Gullas to second Puno’s sponsorship on the floor as Vice Chairman of the Committee on Youth and Sports. “We need McGee in defense as much as Blatche in offense,” said Gullas. “I recall in the case of Marcus, I had the privilege of seconding Congressman Puno’s sponsorship in the committee.”

Reyes said now that the Philippines’ opponents are known in the preliminaries, he will list the players for the 24-man training pool to match up with the likes of Greece’s Vassilis Spanoulis, Argentina’s Manu Ginobili, Puerto Rico’s Renaldo Balkman, Senegal’s Hamady N’Diaye and Croatia’s Draper.

McGee, 26, is a 7-foot, 250-pound center with long, spindly arms. Before he suffered his injury last November, McGee averaged 7.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in five games. Blatche, 27, has earned over $30 Million in eight years labouring in the NBA. This season, he’s averaging 12.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 22.3 minutes. “I’m a Young Seymour,” he said recently. “I hope the fans want to see more.” Blatche has compiled impressive stats despite starting in only five of 40 games so far this season. Douthit, 33, has been signed to a contract extension up to the end of the Asian Games scheduled on Sept. 19-Oct. 4. The matchups in the prelims against teams where Gilas has a chance to win will determine the naturalized player to suit up.