Blackwater, SBP come to terms with Smith naturalization

Greg Smith at Gilas Practice. Photo by Randolph B. Leongson/ INQUIRER.net

With its eyes geared towards the future, Gilas Pilipinas seeks to process the naturalization papers of Greg Smith.

Blackwater team manager Johnson Martines bared that the import’s camp and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) met on Thursday to discuss the possibility of the 26-year-old reinforcement donning the national team colors.

“Greg Smith, Mr. Dioceldo Sy, and Mr. Butch Antonio had a meeting earlier and yes, both parties are willing,” he said.

Smith already practiced once with the national team last month, drawing praises from coach Chot Reyes.

Sy also previously shared that he would be willing to help to fasttrack the naturalization papers of Smith and Perlas Pilipinas naturalized prospect Kelly Hardeman as he hoped to see the two join the national teams in the near future.

And that’s exactly the first order of business for the SBP, Smith, and Blackwater.

“We have to work on the papers first. We have to fix that to get his papers approved as fast as we can,” said Martines.

Smith has been averaging 26.5 points, a league-best 22.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists for the Elite so far this 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Martines shared that Blackwater would be willing to lend Smith as a practice player for the meantime to help Gilas in its preparations for the 2017 Seaba Championships in May.Blackwater, /atm