Instead of raising the white flag of surrender, Gilas Pilipinas struck back and enlisted five new players for the men’s basketball competition of the 19th Asian Games starting 26 September at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center.
In a hastily-called news briefing on Tuesday, Gilas head coach Tim Cone said quitting is not an option so they are tapping Philippine Basketball Association veterans Chris Ross, Arvin Tolentino, Kevin Alas, CJ Perez and Marcio Lassiter for the prestigious quadrennial meet.
Reports have it that the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee had already denied the inclusion of Calvin Abueva and Jason Perkins as replacements for the injured Jamie Malonzo and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser as they were not part of the original 37-man pool that the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas initially submitted.
The organizers also reportedly denied the appeal to include Moala Tautuaa and Terrence Romeo while Roger Pogoy crashed with an undisclosed injury.
With only seven available players, speculations floated that Gilas will just pull out its participation in the Asian Games.
But Cone — with the support of Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio, San Miguel Corporation sports director Alfrancis Chua, PBA commissioner Willie Marcial and PBA chairman Ricky Vargas — refused to quit.
“We’ve heard that the answer is no, but we’ve not gotten anything official, and we’re trying different avenues to continue. In the meantime, we have to go to the list of 37, and I looked at that list and I tried to find four replacements,” Cone said, adding that Chua personally called Ross, Tolentino, Alas and Perez to be part of the team.
Lassiter, for his part, already showed up in their training on Monday at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna.
“He had to call all these players and they all agreed. These are Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter, Arvin Tolentino and CJ Perez, who just returned.”
Perez was part of the Gilas squad that saw action in the FIBA Basketball World Cup recently.
But he begged off from joining the Asian Games, leaving the core of naturalized players Justin Brownlee and Ange Kouame, June Mar Fajardo and Japeth Aguilar, Calvin Oftana, Scottie Thompson and Chris Newsome at the helm.
Chua, the Gilas team manager, said they will do everything to represent the country.
“A lot of people were saying that we should withdraw. That’s the easiest way to get rid of trouble. The quickest way is for the Philippines not to join anymore, but seven players, especially June Mar, want to play,” Chua said.
Scrambling at the last minute is nothing new for Gilas.
During the buildup for the 18th Asian Games in 2018, Gilas also had a depleted roster as their core was serving suspension after figuring in a free-for-all brawl against Australia in the Asian Qualifiers of the FIBA World Cup.
With that, the PBA came to the rescue and deployed Rain or Shine coached by Yeng Guiao and reinforced by National Basketball Association star Jordan Clarkson.
Cone said their last-minute change of personnel made them smaller.
“Obviously, we’ve gone a lot smaller. There are three point guards in the group and Arvin fills out the small forward situation for us,” Cone said.
“Now, we’re practicing at Inspire Academy with 16 players.”
“They all want to play. June Mar, Calvin (Oftana), Japeth and the rest of the guys, they all want to play. That’s what were we are right. We have four guys waiting and five guys being added. These guys they’re going to train and watch video sessions to learn even without knowing whether they will play or not.”
