MANILA, Philippines — The PBA and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas are working hand-in-hand to ensure the availability of the best Philippine basketball can offer ahead of the busy schedule for Gilas Pilipinas in the next two years.
After unforeseen circumstances led to short preparation time for the national team in the recently concluded FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the two basketball organizations are looking to prevent it from happening again.
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Just a day after the February window of the Asian Qualifiers set in the country wrapped up, the SBP and the PBA met on Tuesday where Gilas team manager Butch Antonio said that matching of calendars was done.
"The PBA is very much supportive of the program that the SBP has put forth, lalo na with Chot back, appointed as head coach. Kanina, we sort of synchronized schedules," Antonio said on Tuesday night on SEAG Network.
"Si Commissioner Willie [Marcial], together with Deputy Commissioner Eric [Castro], looked at our schedule," he added.
Busy is an understatement for Gilas in terms of their calendar this year, with rescheduled tournaments due to the pandemic ended up with a tight schedule.
"There will be four more windows [of Asian Qualifiers] all the way up to February. There will be two SEA Games, this year in May and next year in May also, there will be an Asian Games this year, there will be a FIBA Asia Cup this year," said Antonio.
"[Then] the PBA will have their conferences going on and they will even have EASL participation so all this have to come together perfectly so we can prepare for the World Cup," he added.
The SBP will badly need the cooperation of the PBA for its thrust in the next couple of months, as many of the players named in the national team pool also on Tuesday are seeing action in the pro league.
That being said, a mismanaged calendar of events with the PBA will surely leave a big hole in the national team program.
But Antonio is optimistic of the PBA's willingness to work together as both the SBP and the pro hoops league have one goal in mind: preparing well for the country's hosting of the FIBA World Cup next year.
"All of this naman is all towards the preparation so that we can come up with the best team possible for the World Cup," he said.
The next major competition for Gilas is the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, where they will attempt to win another gold medal.