Jones Cup finish sends Gilas to 3rd

MANILA, Philippines - Gilas Pilipinas, with its strong second-place finish in the recent Jones Cup, improved a notch up to third place behind Iran and China in FIBA Asia’s power ranking two weeks before the start of the Asian championship in Changsha, China.

“The Filipinos move up one spot owing to their inspired play in the Jones Cup, where they won six of eight games and finished second overall. And they did that without Andray Blatche,” said the FIBA Asia in its power ranking report.

“Coach Tab Baldwin has proven before that he can bring the best out of any player under his wing, and that is slowly shaping up to be the case in Manila,” the report added.

Chinese Taipei, also with its strong showing in the Jones Cup, moved up to fourth from fifth while South Korea slid from third to fifth.

According to FIBA Asia, Korean swingman Yoon Ho-young is doubtful for the Changsha tourney while star guard Kim Sun-hyung is out for suspected involvement in game-fixing issues back home.

Completing the Top Eight are Jordan, Japan and Kazakhstan.

Barely out are Qatar and Lebanon followed by Palestine, Kuwait, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

Lebanon, a perennial contender in the recent FIBA Asia tourneys, isn’t getting good ranking with all the troubles in its training and the problem with the availability of do-it-all star Fadi El-Khatib.

El-Khatib hasn’t got his release from his CBA ball club yet.

Lebanon backed out of pocket tournaments in Manila (the MVP Cup) and in China.

Iran is the consensus top pick among FIBA Asia experts.

“Iran just buried the competition in the Jones Cup, winning all but one of their games en route to the championship. Hamed Haddadi and Mahdi Kamrani were named to the Mythical Five. This bodes well for the defending champions, who are expected to dominate the proceedings once again in Changsha,” the report said.

“China has been quiet of late, choosing to hold training camp at home after a series of tune-up games abroad. Yi Jianlian’s tired body is recovering nicely. With Yi playing alongside Wang Zhelin, Zhou Qi and Li Muhao, coach Gong Luming easily has the biggest team in the competition,” it said.