Philippine basketball has struggled to adjust to the ‘new’ FIBA calendar since it was implemented six years ago.
FIBA adjusted its qualification system for the continental and world cups by adapting a windows calendar like what FIFA does.
But unlike FIFA which has control over each league in the world, FIBA does not possess the same power. And leagues like the Philippine Basketball Association have had a tough time adjusting to it.
“Kaya tayo nahirapan din mag-form ng teams is because there are a lot more tournaments across the calendar year,” said Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio to the Philippine Senate on Monday.
“So, we had to adjust and transform our tournament format, and SBP had to gather all stakeholders to create one vision to cope with the new FIBA development.”
Last August 1, the SBP called for a stakeholders meeting to align the calendars of each of the major leagues in the country.
And fruitful was the conclusion of that assembly, according to Panlilio.
“What we have done is we gathered the stakeholders and have unified their support Gilas and, these are all the members of the SBP — from the PBA, to the NCAA, and to the UAAP. We were able to get the commitments of the board of committing players to the players’ availability to the training and to the international events “nd, making sure that also in a way for them to that to adjust their calendars, and I think I’ve mentioned the World Cup for next year, the PBA has made a big sacrifice by stopping the PBA,” he said.
An Army of Naturalized Filipinos
Having local players playing is one thing. But in the international game, teams that lack “ceiling” also have a naturalized player to reinforce them.
But there was a time during this FIBA cycle when Gilas did not have a naturalized player in the team as Angelo Kouame was injured for the third window.
For the federation to be ready, the SBP asked the Senate for help in hastening the naturalization of two players — Ginebra’s resident import Justin Brownlee and TNT’s reinforcement Cameron Oliver.
“The goal is first to win back the gold medal in the SEA Games in early May, and prepare for the World Cup starting that time. So we’ll have three to four months of preparation, and also we have gotten a commitment from Jordan Clarkson that he will join six weeks before, so that is a lot of time that the team can work together,” said Panilio
“Having a couple of players to be naturalized will help us. As we know the other countries are doing that because it is a rule in FIBA that you can bring only one naturalized player as part of the team. In other countries, it takes only a few days to actually have naturalized players on board.”
Gilas head coach and program director Chot Reyes welcomed the development, saying that this would help not just in the windows but also in reclaiming the Southeast Asian Games gold he lost last May.
“At the time na hindi available si Jordan Clarkson, gusto natin lumalaban pa rin tayo at may malakas na team. For example, sa SEA Games, if we have a Justin Brownlee, I think malakas ang pag-asa natin to reclaim the gold kasi mga kalaban natin may mga naturalized players na NBA players,” said Reyes.
“So Justin Brownlee and Cameron Oliver — who’s a 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9 player, they are already willing, and hopefully, they can compete. Ang alam namin si Brownlee kumpleto ng ‘yung papers, si Cameron is on the process of completing all the requirements for naturalization po.”
