The PBA is urging the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) to plan ahead of the major international tournaments awaiting Gilas come 2024.
Ginebra governor Alfrancis Chua said that the federation should now be focusing on what’s next, for they have already accomplished their goal of giving the country its first men’s basketball gold medal in the Asian Games in 61 years.
“Actually, andun pa lang kami, I’m telling them, ‘You have to plan it now,‘” said the executive during a press conference held at the PBA office Monday.
“‘Yung celebration, tapos na ‘yun e. Tapos na, nakuha na natin ‘yung ginto. We have to plan it, kung anumang darating,” added Chua, who served as the team manager of the historic team mentored by Tim Cone.
While next year — which is just two months away — may not be as hectic as 2023 had been, two FIBA competitions are lined up for Gilas.
First will be the Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers’ opening window in February. Then, the much-awaited Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQT) in July.
Some fans and pundits are looking forward to the February window, as it could offer a glimpse of what the program’s direction would look after a rag-tag team took on the challenge of playing in the Asiad in another stop-gap measure.
But apparently, the SBP has yet to come up with a plan on how it will tackle that and the whole 2024 calendar, and Chua hopes that they’d act sooner.
Partly because the PBA, as willing as they have always been in helping the Gilas cause, also has its very own concerns that need to be addressed. The leagus is actually preparing for Season 48, which opens on November 5.
“One, they have to check the schedules. Schedule ng PBA, ano ba … Kung kukuha kayo ng PBA players, hindi aabot dahil hanggang Feb kami,” said Chua as the 2023-24 Commissioner’s Cup runs until February.
“So, what’s your next step? Kukuha kayo sa UAAP, NCAA? Hindi biro,” added the former coach. “Kailangan planuhin niyo na ‘yun.”
Vice chairman Bobby Rosales echoed the sentiments of Chua saying, “We have told them to already start planning and developing a national program, and that should be done yesterday because they will be windows.
“In all fairness to the PBA, it will also have to address its own concerns,” he added. “We would like to bring the PBA back to normalcy.
“The normalcy we’re looking at is to bring it to the regular three conferences. So in that sense, we have our own challenges also in the PBA.”
