Baldwin rues Clarkson’s eligibility woes: ‘Fiba needs to wake up’

Jordan Clarkson during one of his practices with Gilas Pilipinas. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Philippine men’s national basketball team head coach Tab Baldwin on Saturday took a swipe at Fiba for not giving Jordan Clarkson the clearance he needed to play for Gilas Pilipinas in the Olympic qualifying tournament in July.

Clarkson has been very vocal in expressing his willingness to suit up for the national team and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has pushed for the Los Angeles Lakers guard’s inclusion in the Gilas lineup since the 2015 Fiba Asia Championship.

However, eligibility issues posed by Fiba have prevented the Fil-American Clarkson, whose mother Anette hails from Pampanga, from wearing the country’s colors in the international stage.

“It’s always great to have Jordan around. He’s a very engaging guy. I just think he’s a great young kid. I think it’s a real shame that he isn’t playing for the Philippines,” Baldwin told reporters during the unveiling of Gilas’ newest uniforms Saturday at Kerry Sports at Shangri-La Hotel at the Fort.

“I think Fiba needs to wake up. They need to wake up to the reality that there’s a lot of good basketball players in the world that should have rights to citizenship to a lot of countries other than the United States,” added Baldwin.

“Just because they might live there and train there, it doesn’t mean their heritage doesn’t belong to another country and I think the world of basketball is a little bit robbed by the fact that we don’t see these players on the court playing international basketball.”

Baldwin, though, said he understands where Fiba is coming from, adding that countries have tried to bend or even break the rules concerning eligibility in the past.

“However, I do understand the challenges that they have to. There have been too many cases in the past where countries tried to bend the rules in their favor or get around the rules,” he said.

“So Fiba has to do something, but I feel sorry for a guy like Jordan who is a Filipino. And it’s not just him that wants him to play for the country. It’s every single Filipino. And the basketball world wants to see these great athletes on the court during international events. And we got to figure out a better way, I think, to do than what we’re doing now.”