SBP bares ‘special’ PBA draft for Gilas 5.0 players

MVP Sports Foundation president Al Panlilio speaks during a press conference at Novotel Manila Araneta Center in Cubao. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Top amateur standouts will have their chance of making it to the PBA while also serving for the national team as new SBP president Al Panlilio shared that a special Gilas draft will be held later this year.

“The discussion with the PBA was for them to have a special draft with Gilas players. All the teams will own the rights to the players, but they know that those players are committed to the national team until such time the SBP releases them to the PBA,” Panlilio bared on Monday at Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati.

INQUIRER.net had previously reported that PBA and the SBP are trying to hash out plans to solve potential issues brought about by Fiba’s change in calendar which will be in effect starting in 2017.

READ: No more pro players for Gilas?

“That’s the plan, at least for Gilas 5.0. We’ve agreed with this with the PBA and we’re looking at 14 names to create that pool,” he said. “At least, they already have mother teams. That’s basically what we’ve agreed in with the PBA in terms of how we can proceed with that, and the role of manager Butch (Antonio) is to really find those 14 names and sign them up to the Gilas program.”

Panlilio cleared that the process will be done so that the PBA ball clubs can secure the rights to the players while they are on national team duty.

“The agreement lang is for them to be drafted. The PBA teams will have the rights to them, it they will not play in the PBA until the SBP releases them to the PBA. That has been sort of agreed on in the PBA,” he said.

Though the biggest impact will be felt in the 2016 batch, Panlilio shared that the Gilas program will continue to pick a few players from year-to-year, given that the same number of Gilas players will also be returned to their mother teams.

“It really depends on the SBP, on the coach who will run the team. Maybe initially, you have contracts of three or four years, depending on the calendar that we’re looking at. You might get a player that might be released in the first year to the PBA. The agreement also with the PBA is after the first year, they will allow the SBP in the succeeding drafts to choose one or two more players every time. As we drop two, we pick up two, and so on,” he said.

“Yung pinaka-bulto lang ng maraming kukunin is in this first year. Beyond that, it’s identifying the core. You would drop a few players and pick up a few more in the draft just to strengthen the team every year.”

Panlilio also said that a number of PBA owners supported the setup, with Alaska owner Fred Uytengsu as one of the proposal’s main boosters.

“It was seconded by Fred, Phoenix, and other teams in the PBA because you also don’t want to kill the PBA at the same time because the pipeline from the PBA are coming from the college ranks,” he said.

“We want to make sure that the PBA survives and in fact, becomes a bigger league than it is today and at the same time, looking at how we can also improve the national team. It’s a two-pronged objective for the PBA. They’re really willing to help the SBP strengthen the national team and they’ve shown that and they will continue to do really support that.”

The Gilas draft is tentatively set on October 30, with the merit order set by the PBA. The non-Gilas batch will follow soon after, with the same order being followed.

Panlilio, though, did not dismiss the idea of pro players still being part of the Gilas squad if time permits.

“As we see the calendars, I would think that in some tournament, we’ll be able to augment it with PBA players if the schedule is available. If you look at the calendar, there’s February, June, there’s windows na baka libre ang PBA players where we can put them in. Maybe. What’s stopping a PBA team from releasing anytime? I don’t know. It’s up to the PBA owners if they’re willing to do that,” he said.

“Right now, ang usapan is to form the Gilas 5.0 and continue to work with the PBA on how we can strengthen the national team moving forward. It’s an open discussion with the PBA and very, very collaborative one.”