Jordan quest

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas will be leaving no stone unturned in sending the best possible team to the Fiba World Cup in China later this year and move to get the green light to field Jordan Clarkson as a Filipino.

“(We) plan to request Fiba to allow Jordan Clarkson to play with us as a Filipino,” Gilas Pilipinas patron Manny V. Pangilinan said on Tuesday, a day after the Nationals arrived to a heroes’ welcome following two key victories overseas that got the Philippines back in the main draw.

“In 2014 in Seville (Spain), we won only one game—versus Senegal,” Pangilinan wrote in a message to the Inquirer. “I am confident we will win more than this in China.”

Clarkson plays for the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA, which will be well into its break by the time the World Cup is played in eight cities in China from Aug. 31 to Sept. 15.

Drawing of lots will be on March 16 in Shezhen, one of the eight host cities in China.

Last year, after a long process, Clarkson got permission from the NBA to play for Gilas in the Asian Games in Jakarta, suiting up as a local.

The NBA had earlier thumbed down Clarkson’s Asiad stint, saying that it only allows its international players to suit up for their countries in major Fiba tournaments such as the Olympics and the World Cup.

But the rules on those tournaments are stricter, as they require players with dual citizenships to have secured their second passports before they turned 16.

“We have been trying to discuss the matter with Fiba,” SBP president Al Panlilio was quoted in an interview by Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Everyone is working on the matter and we will do everything that we can.”

If Fiba won’t relent in classifying Clarkson as a naturalized player, the coaching staff led by Yeng Guiao and the SBP will have to choose between him and Andray Blatche, the hero in the Filipinos’ 93-75 World Cup stint-clinching win over Kazakhstan on Monday in Astana.

But if the SBP does get Fiba to relent, then the Filipinos will have a pretty strong 1-2 punch that will be complemented well by Jason Castro, Japeth Aguilar, gunslinger Marcio Lassiter, reigning five-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo and other talents from the local pro league.