Blatche to report for Gilas practice

MANILA, Philippines - Nine-year NBA veteran Andray Blatche will report for the first official Gilas practice called by national coach Tab Baldwin at the Meralco gym tomorrow night. This was confirmed yesterday by Gilas team manager Butch Antonio even as it was still uncertain when Blatche would actually land in Manila.

Blatche, 28, would’ve arrived late last night if he made the connecting flight from Miami to Atlanta to Seoul and finally, to Manila as originally plotted in his itinerary. If he didn’t make the connecting flight, Blatche will fly in tonight. Antonio said Blatche will show up for tomorrow’s practice either way. He was scheduled to touch down with boyhood pal Bryan Extra and personal trainer Rory Jones who is NBA center JaVale McGee’s cousin. Extra and Jones were with Blatche during the FIBA World Cup in Spain last year.

“Andray’s starting point was Miami but his flight to Atlanta kept getting delayed until it was cancelled,” said Antonio. “So he had to switch flights to make his connection from Atlanta to Seoul. He had to get off in Atlanta, where he is now based, to collect some stuff to bring to Manila. So we couldn’t be sure if he could make the original connection. It was either Andray would arrive late Saturday evening or late Sunday evening but we expect him to be at coach Tab’s first official practice (tomorrow).”

Antonio said the report that Blatche is restrained to play for Gilas by his Chinese league contract is false. “We don’t know where that news came from,” he said. “Andray just laughed it off. We have a contract with Andray. It’s done. We are committed to each other. We’ve also been assured by Andray’s US agent (Andy Miller) and business manager Chao Espaldon of East West Private that he’s playing for us at the FIBA Asia Championships in Changsha and the Olympics next year.” Blatche recently signed a three-year $7.5 Million contract to play for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in the Chinese league this coming season. The Chinese league runs from November to March, including the playoffs.

Espaldon flew in from the US last Thursday night to lay the groundwork for Blatche’s arrival. She met with Baldwin and Antonio during a walk-through Gilas workout last Friday.

Antonio said there has been no discussion on Blatche representing the Philippines at the Olympic qualifying tournament for wildcards a month before the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games. Only the winner of the coming FIBA Asia Championships is guaranteed a ticket as the Asian entry at the Olympics. The second and third placers will be invited to play at the Olympic qualifying tournament along with similar finishers from Africa, Europe, Oceania and the Americas. “Our focus is to win the FIBA Asia Championships so we qualify for the Olympics outright,” said Antonio. “We’re not entertaining notions of playing at the Olympic qualifying tournament for wildcards. We haven’t discussed that possibility with Andray.”

Antonio said a lot of decisions on Gilas’ preparations for the FIBA Asia Championships will be made this weekend. “Playing at the Jones Cup is under consideration and we hope to be able to do a camp in Europe,” he said. “There is a plan to join a pocket tournament in Estonia and set up training camp in Lithuania.”

Antonio said a national pool of 16 to 20 players will be announced by the SBP and PBA tomorrow.  But it will be a working pool, meaning the list may be expanded as other players become available.

“Everything will be decided within reason,” said Antonio. “PBA chairman Pato Gregorio and commissioner Chito Salud want the best possible team that we can form. But if players are injured or must attend to personal priorities, we’ve just got to learn to cope. We’ll try our best to work things out. We’re not closing doors on anyone. For instance, we know that Marc Pingris is arriving with his family from France only on Aug. 12. He had to leave to attend to a personal matter. We don’t know about Marcio Lassiter but we were told his mother is very ill and he is in the US with her. JuneMar Fajardo is scheduled to be examined by doctors. We’re hoping he is able to recover from his injury (plantar fasciitis) in time to join us. We’ll try to make adjustments, again within reason.”

Antonio declined to name candidates for the pool although several players were invited to join the informal Gilas practices that started last Wednesday. “The pool is still a work in progress,” he said. “Chairman Pato and commissioner Chito are reaching out to team owners. This is a national effort and we’re hoping to get the players we need to be competitive. We expect coach Tab to call twice a day practices soon.”

Baldwin’s coaching staff is made up of Joseph Uichico, Norman Black, Nash Racela, Josh Reyes, Jimmy Alapag and Alex Compton. There is a slim possibility that Alapag may be enlisted to unretire if the Gilas backcourt needs shoring up but a source said it’s a last option.