No one knows exactly where or how this over-diligent, resourceful online writer got what he said was Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin’s wish list of 26 names for the national pool from where he would pick the final lineup for the country’s campaign in this year’s Fiba Asia Men’s Championship.
Baldwin was supposed to announce the names in the list not earlier than the end of this conference, but to his consternation, the scribe beat him to the draw a few days ago.
Now everybody’s asking: Is this list a facsimile of the wish list submitted by Baldwin to the PBA earlier?
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“It’s not my list of 26 players and in fact it wasn’t really that close,” Baldwin said over Aksyon Sports sa Radyo Singko last Sunday afternoon, referring to the list in the online scribe’s article.
“Wherever it came from, in my opinion, it shouldn’t have been reported, but it was and one has to deal with these things.”
His major concern, according to Baldwin, is the impact of the online report to players who were named by the report but won’t be on the list and those who were not named but will be in the list.
“It’s unfair to them because they don’t know. Nobody among the players know,” Baldwin said.
“There has to be integrity in this process and when we get situations like this, this kind of announcement really impedes our ability to do our job the best we can.”
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To confirm if the list published online was the same list submitted by Baldwin to the PBA, we got in touch with some important people who would know.
PBA Media Bureau head Willie Marcial responded with the single letter “D”, which is text messaging shorthand for hindi (no), meaning the online list was not accurate.
“No, it’s not accurate,” said SBP deputy executive director Butch Antonio outright, adding a request.
“Let’s not write sana anything muna about the pool. We don’t want to preempt Tab and his discussions with the PBA teams.”
Finally, a word from the editor of the online scribe: “Ma’am, that list is a hundred percent accurate. But because it came out sooner than it should, for sure there will be some changes made, because some players may not be allowed to play for Gilas by their mother teams.”
For whatever it’s worth, here is the list published online: Aldrech Ramos, Asi Taulava, Gregory Slaughter, June Mar Fajardo, Raymond Almazan, Marc Pingris, Japeth Aguilar, Paul Lee, Sonny Thoss, Dondon Hontiveros, Gabe Norwood, Ranidel De Ocampo, Beau Belga, Matt Ganuelas Rosser, Jeff Chan, Jason Castro, Ryan Reyes, Jarred Dillinger, Terrence Romeo, Marcio Lassiter, Kelly Williams, Larry Fonacier, Gary David, LA Tenorio, Mark Barroca, Cliff Hodge and amateur invitees and practice players Bobby Ray Parks, Troy Rosario, Glenn Khobuntin and Garvo Lanete.