MANILA, Philippines–With only 10 available players in its roster, the Smart Gilas Pilipinas five might skip the coming Fiba Asia Stankovic Cup.
“There’s no final decision yet. If you ask me, I would like to go on competing,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman. “But we have only 10 players with one center (Jason Ballesteros).”
Toroman said seven-footer Greg Slaughter and big man Rabeh Al-Hussaini need to fulfill school commitments while naturalization candidate Marcus Douthit and Filipino-foreign wingman Chris Lutz have yet to secure Philippine passports.
The Fiba Asia Stankovic Cup features the top-ranked national teams in the continent minus China and South Korea, which both begged off from the Aug. 7 to 15 meet.
Representing the Southeast Asian region, the RP five is bracketed in Group B with host Lebanon, defending champion Jordan, Qatar and Syria while Group A includes Kazakhstan, Japan, Chinese Taipei and Iraq.
Toroman admitted that it would be a tall order to match up with these teams without his key frontline players.
“It will be a good tournament before the Asian Games,” said Toroman, stressing that the competition in the Stankovic Cup is a preview of the Asiad in Guangzhou, China, on Nov. 12 to 27.
“The field is almost similar to the Asian Games. You just add China and Korea in the tournament,” added the Serbian mentor who steered Iran to the 2008 Beijing Olympics after capturing the 2007 Fiba Asia crown.
Smart Gilas manager Frankie Lim said the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas will decide this week on the Stankovic stint.
Without Slaughter, the 6-foot-10 Douthit and 6-7 Al-Hussaini, Toroman will be forced to rely heavily on the 6-7 Ballesteros, 6-9 Japeth Aguilar and 6-3 Mac Baracael in the low blocks.
Toroman said that if Slaughter and Al-Hussaini were available, he would push for the team’s participation in the Stankovic Cup.
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