After Slaughter, Lassiter also pulls out of Smart Gilas pool

Marcio Lassiter of Petron. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel’s Marcio Lassiter also backed out of the national basketball team training roster shortly after Greg Slaughter announced his withdrawal Friday.

Lassiter, who was part of the original Smart Gilas Pilipinas under coach Rajko Toroman, said that it would not feel right for him “to take away from the players who deserve it.”

“They’ve been through the battles of war. I feel like they have some unfinished business to handle in Spain. That’s the reason why,” he said in a press conference on Friday.

Earlier, Slaughter cited the same reason, saying “I think those 12 should be the ones to go on and represent the country.”

But Lassiter cleared that the management had no hand in his decision. Lassiter and Slaughter belong in teams that are under the San Miguel Corporation.

“This wasn’t a management decision.  It was totally personal,” he said.

But the San Miguel swingman, who has represented the country several times, said that his health was also part of the reason why he withdrew his name from the pool.

“In my second year, [a fall] messed up my back. I should’ve taken the whole conference off, but I played through it because I wanted to help my team. But it’s been lingering from time to time. So I’m taking some more time to fully recover.”

Like Slaughter, national team coach Chot Reyes has also been informed of his decision.

“We both talked about this. We had a sitdown. He’s aware of this. We spoke to make sure we’re on the same page. To make sure he didn’t hear it from other sources.”