Salud pushes for long-term cage program

MANILA, Philippines - PBA president/chief executive officer Chito Salud stressed yesterday the pro league remains fully committed in supporting Gilas Pilipinas but is hoping for a more concrete long-term plan to be able to address the usual problems  in the formation of the national team.

 Salud said the PBA board of governors is ready to work with the national basketball federation – Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas – to formulate the program.

Meantime, Salud insisted the pro league is one with the SBP in its hope to achieve its quest in the coming FIBA Asia Championship and is fully behind the country’s bid to win the hosting rights for the next FIBA World Cup.

Salud, the entire PBA board and new league commissioner Chito Narvasa are all going to Tokyo, Japan to show their full support as the country bids to bring the world meet here in 2019.

They will be on the sidelines of the bid presentation tomorrow, then embark on their annual planning session also in the Japanese capital starting Sunday.

The national team program will surely be on the agenda especially as they have just made available 16 PBA stars to the Gilas training pool.

Salud reiterated Junemar Fajardo, Marc Pingris and LA Tenorio are allowed by their mother ball clubs to join the pool but they have their personal issues. The league chieftain is hopeful, though, their concerns can still be ironed out.

Rain or Shine, meanwhile, has made available only one player to Gilas this time. It has contributed at least three-player contributions to the national team program for a number of years.

“Rain or Shine is underappreciated by the people with all its support to the national team in the past. All the hits they’re getting now are not fair,” a league official noted.

In the last World Cup and in the last Asian Games, Gilas featured three Rain or Shine players in Paul Lee, Jeff Chan and Gabe Norwood. Another Elasto Painter, Beau Belga, is a reserve player.  

Only Norwood is left in the current pool.

Salud is batting for the formulation of a long-term program especially as the FIBA is shifting to a new calendar for the next qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup.

“I was asking around and the answer that I got as to the FIBA calendar is a series of two-week competitions per quarter (of the year). That’s a lot of disruption to the PBA calendar,” said Salud.

The original Gilas program actually involved collegiate stars plus naturalized player Marcus Douthit under coach Rajko Toroman.

It didn’t last long though with the SBP leadership tapping PBA reinforcements for the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship.

With Chot Reyes taking over Toroman the following year, the national program reverted back to pick-up system or requesting the best available PBA players.