The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) has made the decision to add four players to the Gilas Pilipinas Men team that will compete in the 19th Asian Games.
In a press conference held by the SBP and the Philippine Basketball Association on Tuesday at the league’s office in Pasig, the federation announced that it has added Chris Ross, Kevin Alas, Arvin Tolentino, and CJ Perez for the continental meet.
The reason for the changes is that the organizers are likely to deny the eligibility of Calvin Abueva, Jason Perkins, Terrence Romeo, Stanley Pringle, and Mo Tautuaa.
Abueva and Perkins were not part of the initial pool of 60 names submitted by the SBP to the Philippine Olympic Committee last March while Romeo, Pringle, and Tautuaa were not part of the list of 37 which was submitted later on.
“From what I understand, we are still finding avenues in which to try to get them in. The word we’ve gotten is that they won’t be available. They are still up in Inspire camp and practicing with us until we get that final, final word,” said interim Gilas head coach Tim Cone.
Meanwhile, Roger Pogoy has been ruled out of the tournament due to a medical condition and will be replaced by Marcio Lassiter.
Ross, Alas, Tolentino, Perez, and Lassiter will join June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson, Calvin Oftana, Chris Newsome, Justin Brownlee, and Angelo Kouame.
“The other four is not sure if they can take the original four. We’d prefer the original lineup because they have size and have knowledge of what we do. They are still trying to catch up with the original seven,” Cone added.
The Philippines is grouped in Group C along with Jordan, Thailand, and Bahrain.
