Angelo Kouame and the Availability Issue for a Gilas Naturalized Player

Do you remember back in 2018 when Gilas Pilipinas almost missed the 2018 Asian Games and later decided otherwise? That Gilas team had to face enormous obstructions and it even needed a former senator and a presidential assistant to convince the SBP to send a basketball team to the Asian Games which was held in Indonesia. Not only did it require someone who is close to the president for the SBP to have a change of heart, but it was also remembered for another thing: the Jordan Clarkson issue.

During that time, the NBA and FIBA don't have an existing agreement that allows NBA players to play in the Asian Games. And yet, China had two players who back then have live contracts with the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks. Clarkson, then playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, wasn't permitted to play for the Filipino team? That alone sparked debates until the NBA gave the three players one-time permission to play in the Asian Games due to "communication breakdowns" between the league and the basketball federations of both China and the Philippines. Unfortunately, Gilas only finished in fifth place in that tournament- their highest finish in 16 years. The nationals finished fourth during the Asian Games in 2002. 

That's exactly the situation Gilas Program Director and Assistant Coach Tab Baldwin is trying to address as Gilas Pilipinas is gearing up for the first window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers. To begin with, he said that he aims to build a professional national team program in time for the 2023 FIBA World Cup and among the preparations that Tab Baldwin is overseeing is the preparedness and the availability of a naturalized player who can be fielded into action at any given time.

And that's where Angelo Kouame will come into the picture.

Right now, Angelo Kouame has a couple of years left with the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP which could work for Baldwin and Gilas because as the three-time UAAP champion coach, having Kouame around will give the national team who is very much available until he joins the professional ranks. That makes sense because not only do Kouame, a former Rookie of the Year awardee and last year's Defensive Player of the Year, doesn't have other commitments to other teams in other leagues, he chose to be a naturalized player for the Philippines over his own country, Ivory Coast. 

Now, if the House of Representatives could speed things up in deliberating the House Bill #5951 which aim to make Kouame a naturalized Filipino citizen that was filed last month by House Deputy Speaker and SBP Vice-Chairman Robbie Puno, Angelo Kouame could finally replace Andray Blatche as the Philippines' mainstay naturalized player and he could be in for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

Then again, Kouame is just a part of a pool of naturalized players that Gilas Pilipinas can choose from. 

Photo is from Daily Guardian