Fajardo, Blatche lead Gilas Pilipinas shoo-ins

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

CAGAYAN DE ORO—Chot Reyes has declared that Gilas Pilipinas 5.0, regardless of what regional tournament it will take part in, will be the best that the Philippines can assemble.

Hours before this batch of Nationals see action for the first time during the PBA’s Annual All-Star Week, Reyes said deciding on the first eight to nine names to make up the team for the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) is the easy part.

What’s difficult, according to the veteran internationalist, is deciding on the three that would complete the roster.

Reigning three-time PBA Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo, workhorse Calvin Abueva, Jason Castro—adjudged in the last two Asian Championships as the best point guard in the region—and naturalized center Andray Blatche are easy inclusions for the May 12 to 18 event slated at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“It’s easy to decide on the [first] 8 to 9,” Reyes said. “The difficult decision is which players will complete the team,” he added. “All of the players are very dedicated [to national cause].”

Reyes is using the All-Star games as auditions for the final lineup for the Seaba squad.

In the first of those games, Fajardo had 16 points as Gilas Pilipinas and the Mindanao All-Stars fought to a 114-114 tie in Cagayan de Oro City Wednesday night.

Team Philippines needs to win the Seaba to qualify for the Asian Championship where slots to the 2019 World Cup in China will be staked.

Terrence Romeo, who had 18 points Wednesday night for Gilas, Allein Maliksi and Japeth Aguilar, could also earn national team berths. Matthew Wright, who led Gilas with 22 points against the Mindanao squad, could also get a call-up.