All Cadets Team for Gilas Pilipinas in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament and FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers this coming June

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio confirmed that PBA players will not be called up for Gilas Pilipinas as the team is set to compete in the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers and the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in June.

SBP will have at its disposal the Special Gilas draftees in 2019 — Isaac Go, Allyn Bulanadi, Rey Suerte, and twins Matt and Mike Nieto. As well as this year’s Special Gilas draftees — William Navarro, JD Tungcab, Tzaddy Rangel, and Jordan Heading. Naturalization candidate Ange Kouame and teenage NBA prospect Kai Sotto is also on the list of players to be invited in the pool. The group is also in talks with some other collegiate stars to have a 20-25 player pool for a Bubble training likely to start at the end of this month.

According to Panlilio, the decision to go with an all-cadet team boils down to two main considerations: First, to continue the development of the young Gilas Pilipinas players, and second, ensure that the PBA can push through with its upcoming season.

Despite having one-less of a problem with no PBA players being tapped to join the national team, the PBA is still discussing with SBP on how they can lend a helping hand for a national cause. Some discussion includes a two or three-day pocket tournament involving Gilas Pilipinas, one other national team, and two PBA teams ahead of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers. The other one is for the Gilas Pilipinas to be a guest team in the coming conference, although their games will have no bearing on the standings.

The final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers which will be played here in the Philippines has been tentatively rescheduled for the second week of June. Meanwhile, the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, that will take place in Serbia, is set for June 28 to July 4.

The Philippines is bracketed with host Serbia and Dominican Republic in Group A where the top two teams move to the crossover semifinals. Only the winner after the Finals will punch a ticket to Tokyo Olympics. Meanwhile, Gilas Pilipinas still needs a couple of victories to advance into the FIBA Asia Cup proper against South Korea and Indonesia wherein we will play South Korea twice and Indonesia once.

Photo is from FIBA