Commissioner Chito Salud.
“I doubt it.”
This was the stern reaction of PBA commissioner Chito Salud to the wish of the Philippine Sports Commission to have Gilas-Pilipinas represent the country in the Myanmar Southeast Asian Games in November.
“The PBA will be in the middle of the 2014 Philippine Cup,” Salud said in a text message. “Perhaps it’s time for our future national team players to be tested there.”
Though an obvious overkill considering the competition in the SEA Games, PSC chair Richie Garcia still sounded off the idea to send one of the top cage teams in Asia to battle for just one gold medal in Myanmar.
The Philippines has won the basketball gold in the SEA Games each time since 1989 and has remained untouched in the region even with teams made up of college stars and players in the semi-pro leagues.
Gilas-Pilipinas is made up of millionaire PBA superstars and a naturalized player in 6-foot-10 Marcus Douthit. The squad is in Lithuania for a two-week training stint for the Fiba Asia World Basketball Championship qualifier in Manila in August.
The Fiba Asia, which will reward the top three teams with slots in the 2014 world championship, will be held from Aug. 1 to 11 at Mall of Asia Arena. The Philippines has been bracketed in Group A together with Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Chinese-Taipei.