It will have surprised many people that Matthew Wright’s name wasn’t a part of Gilas Pilipinas’ 14-man pool for the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers’ sixth window.
Prior to his three-game suspension due to that infamous brawl with Australia last July, the Fil-Canadian shooter had been a part of the Nationals’ training pool since the start of the Asian Qualifiers last 2017.
Taking Wright’s place will be Roger Pogoy, though the TNT KaTropa combo guard will only be eligible to play in one game. Pogoy’s five-game ban will only finish after their game versus the Qataris.
“That’s out of my control. I can’t control that. That’s the coach’s decision.”
But as surprising as his snub may seem, Wright made it clear that he has no issues. The 27-year-old even wished his brothers-in-arms the best of luck in their quest to fan the country’s World Cup hopes.
“I wish them all the best,” Wright said.
“We need those two wins in the Middle East in order for us to qualify, so I wish all those guys the best.”
Wright also hopes that the flag-bearers will rack up better results in the sixth window in February, as naturalized center Andray Blatche has been called up again after not being included in the pool of the previous window.
“I know Andray is back so hopefully we can get two wins,” he said.
The current pool does includes a couple of players who are still hurt, namely Troy Rosario (nose) and Raymond Almazan (ankle). This means that their status for the window is still hanging in the balance.
With that, Wright said that he’s ready if ever he gets called up again.
“Whenever my name is called the for the country, I’m ready for duty.”
