World News – AU – PBA players, coaches excluded from November Fiba window

MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin has ruled out PBA players and coaches from making the Philippine squad in the November window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers

The PBA is already in the midst of restarting the Philippine Cup which is being played in a bubble environment in Clark, Pampanga The conference could last until the second week of December

The situation prompted Baldwin and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) to explore other feasible options regarding team composition

« We don’t expect the PBA bubble to be broken in any way You know at this point we are certainly ruling out the inclusion of PBA players and coaches, » Baldwin said on Tuesday on the Sports page « And that means we have to look at either the players who are abroad who are domiciled abroad, which will again be difficult as they most likely have current schedules at the moment. »

Prepare for the qualifiers of the FIBA ​​Asia Cup 2021, at the drawing board of Samahang Basketbol ng…

« Or look through our varsity ranks, which is probably the most likely and the one that coach Ryan and I spend most of our time working on right now, » he added.

At the moment, the SBP only has five players at their disposal: Isaac Go, Rey Suerte, Matt and Mike Nieto and Allyn Bulanadi, all of whom were taken in the special draft and loaned to the Gilas Pilipinas program.

Thirdy Ravena could also be part of the squad, although her availability will depend on whether her time in the Japanese B league allows her to participate

Ravena led the Philippines in their 100-70 beating against Indonesia last February to start Gilas’s campaign in qualifying

Last month, Fiba announced that the next two windows of all of their Continental Cup qualifiers will take place in a bubble-shaped concept

« To be completely honest with you we were all surprised But if you really want the game to restart this is a way for us to get back to some normalcy we are thrilled with it all, we really hope basketball will not only return to the NBA , we also encourage the restart of the PBA and Fiba ”, said Ryan Gregorio, special assistant to SBP President Al Panlilio

« But what surprised us the most is the schedule we saw that is going to happen in November and the other in February, so we are working to put together a decent team if this is to go next month « 

The roster of the squad, which includes the appointment of the next head coach with interim Mark Dickel with TNT in the PBA bubble, is not the only pressing concern for the SBP at the moment

« When are we allowed to practice again by the IATF I think that’s the biggest problem we have right now, » said Gregorio

“The players are ready to play, but are we allowed to play as a team? This is the question we are waiting for an answer so far, ”added Gregorio, who mentioned that veteran coach Jong Uichico would probably be part of the technical staff.

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Philippine National Men’s Basketball Team, Tab Baldwin, Philippine Basketball Association, FIBA ​​Asia Cup 2021 Qualifier, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, Philippines