Friday afternoon, FIBA announced that continental cups like the Asia Cup Qualifiers can finally resume this November.
The second window of the ACQ will take place inside a bubble, with four to eight teams competing at a time.
It’s good news that the world-governing body has made a huge step in resuming basketball after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic paralyzed international sport. Now, the question is — who will be part of Gilas Pilipinas when it faces South Korea and Thailand?
As of now, even Gilas Men’s program director Tab Baldwin and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas don’t know.
“It’s hard to say. Obviously the SBP and PBA will have to put their heads together and find something that will work,” Baldwin told Tiebreaker Times.
Starting October 9, the PBA will resume its 45th season inside a bubble in Clark, Pampanga.
It will also be hard for pros to train with Gilas, since the games take place on a daily basis. In addition, moving in and out of the bubble is strictly prohibited by the PBA and the IATF.
And that’s just the players. Gilas interim head coach Mark Dickel and assistant coach Topex Robinson will both be in the bubble as well with TNT and Phoenix, respectively.
On the other hand, calling up the Cadets consisting of Isaac Go, Matt and Mike Nieto, Allyn Bulanadi, Rey Suerte, Thirdy Ravena, Jaydee Tungcab, Juan Gomez de Liaño, Javi Gomez de Liaño, Justine Baltazar, Dave Ildefonso, Kobe Paras, and Dwight Ramos looks to be a good option.
However, the leader of that squad, Ravena, will have probably left for Japan by November to join San-En.
“We don’t know either. Again, Japan is still closed in granting visitor visas. Thirdy is still trying to get his,” bared Baldwin.
“I presume he will have it by then. Who can be sure with anything these days?”
For his part, Baldwin — a proven miracle worker, going by the 2015 FIBA Asia Cup — plans on working with what he’ll have. After all, this is the task he received since becoming the head honcho of the program last year.
“Of course, we have players available. It’s a question of which players will be available to us,” he said.
“My job is to work with what is available.”
