GILAS PILIPINAS Player pool for FIBA WORLD 2014
MANILA (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Philippines coach Chot Reyes has decided on the pool of players he wants to consider for the country's FIBA Basketball World Cup squad.
All 12 members of the team that finished runners-up to Iran at last year's FIBA Asia Championship in Manila are in the pool, including naturalized big man Marcus Douthit.
The 2.10m center could face competition for his spot in the team, however, if Brooklyn Netspivot Andray Blatche receives a passport.
Should the Philippines congress approve the American's application for citizenship, the official number of players in the pool will rise from 17 to 18.
Douthit led the team in scoring (11.9 points per game) and rebounding (9.4 rebounds per game) and also averaged a tournament-best 2.0 blocks per contest in Manila.
The 33-year-old native New Yorker got hurt in the team's Semi-Final triumph over Korea, however, and did not play in the Final against Iran, which the Philippines lost, 85-71.
His absence was especially felt on the boards because the Iranians out-rebounded the Philippines in that championship game, 51-34.
Blatche, 27, averages 11.7ppg and 5.6rpg for the Nets in the NBA.
The last cuts from the 2013 roster, Beau Belga and Greg Slaughter, are in the 2014 pool as well as Marcio Lassiter, Jared Dillinger and Paul Lee.
Lassiter and Dillinger have represented the Philippines before, with the the former featuring at the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship and the latter at the 2012 FIBA Asia Cup.
Dillinger suffered a hip injury in a car accident and wasn't able to play last year.
"I would like to acknowledge the team owners and the PBA (Philippines Basketball Association) Board of Governors for allowing me to name the players in the pool," Reyes said.
"I would like to thank the PBA for its continued partnership to the national team effort."
The player pool will also be used for the Asia Games, which are to be played in Korea (19 September-4 October) after the World Cup (30 August-14 September).
At the recent draw for the FIBA Basketball World Cup, Reyes looked ahead to the teams the Philippines would go up against.
"It is a tough group," he said to FIBA.
"We have no disillusions about our group. It is a very tough group.
"Everything is really going to be hard.
"And in my mind I had mentally prepared, psychologically, already to be up against very, very, very tough competition. We would absolutely love to get to the second round."
The Philippines last played at a FIBA World Championship when the tournament was held in their own country in 1978.
FIBA
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
No comments :
Post a Comment