Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
With the 2017 Fiba Asia Cup and the 2017 Southeast Asian Games set to run simultaneously, Gilas Pilipinas will parade different squads in the two continental tournaments.
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio confirmed that there will be two sets of teams from the 27-man strong national team pool which will don the tri-colors in the competitions.
“The thinking at the time is you can’t field just one team. It’s too taxing for the players to play for both tournaments because they will overlap,” he said.
The 2017 Fiba Asia Cup is set from August 10 to 20 in Lebanon, while the 2017 Southeast Asian Games will be deom August 19 to 31 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
But before the Philippines figure out its scheduling woes, national team coach Chot Reyes said the top priority is the 2017 Seaba Championships from May 12 to 18.
“Realistically, we’re not thinking about it yet because we want to focus our full attention on SEABA. None of that will mean anything if we don’t win the Seaba,” he said.
Reyes still acknowledged the need to split the pool into two teams to cater to both tournaments.
“By the format, it’s impossible for one team to play both of those. We’re most likely to form two teams, but there’s still no details because we’re not yet there,” he said.
“We want to make sure that our full concentration is on the Seaba first, then we can worry about that later.”