Head coach Yeng Guiao revealed that it is the Philippines’ questionable competitiveness in the 2018 Asian Games that led to the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas withdrawing from the tilt.
An hour before midnight on Friday, the federation made public its decision not to send the Philippine men’s basketball team to Indonesia for this year’s Asian Games.
“In the process of trying to complete the lineup, nagkaroon ng parang doubts on whether we can really compete without the players we requested,” Guiao told reporters via phone patch, moments after SBP’s decision.
“Kasi natignan ko team ng Iran will send their main team. Yung team nila national team talaga.”
Guiao said that upon seeing the Iranian side for the Asiad, he asked the federation’s top brass – such as chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan and president Al Panlilio – what their real expectations are for the tourney.
“Tinatanong ko rin sila boss Al and boss MVP, ‘What are your expectations? Are we trying to seriously compete or trying to participate?’
“We are trying to seriously compete but without reinforcements, it would be really difficult to expect a lot out of Rain or Shine,” said Guiao, who had been on the verge of reuniting with the Elasto Painters in the quadrennial meet.
Another factor that led to the withdrawal is that some PBA teams denied SBP’s request to borrow players for the cagefest – though Guiao did not mention which teams and players turned down the request.
‘Pinapagawa na sa’kin lineup, so yun nga binalita nila sa PBA board… Na-deny request namin for mga players from other teams,” he admitted.
With the predicament of the SBP, Guiao shared that he himself had suggested to the federation that it would be better if they assess the situation and focus instead on the program’s future.
“Sabi ko boss, kung ganito lang yung situation natin, it might even be better if we assess if it’s really going to help our cause then it might even be better,” said the veteran bench strategist. “We’ll just take time to regroup.
“Ayusin natin suspension ng Gilas players – we can focus on that. Focus on reviewing our program.”
