It turns out Jayson Castro isn’t done representing the Philippines just yet.
After begging off from the 2019 FIBA World Cup to spend more time with his family, the two-time best point guard in Asia is now back with Gilas Pilipinas for the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
Castro’s name is part of the 15-man pool for the meet which coach Tim Cone, together with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Basketball Association, announced during a press conference in the PBA office Thursday.
The decorated Cone was even giddy when he mentioned Castro.
“I’m proud to announce [that] we have asked him to come back and join the program. I’m really proud of the fact that he decided to come back to help us out,” said Cone, who’s filling in as Gilas head coach for the SEA Games only.
“I think we all know he was one of the big missing links in the last try we had.”
Cone said that the initial plan was for him to first ask Castro to rejoin the national team. However, since the PBA board wanted an immediate answer, league chairman Ricky Vargas himself reached out.
The rest, as they say, is history.
“It was supposed to be me that was gonna ask him, because we knew that he retired,” Cone recalled. “But the Board wanted to know right away, so Mr. Vargas called him and said we’d like you to unretire and come back.
“He said right away he’ll do it.”
Castro, 33, has been one of the Gilas program’s vanguards since the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship held here. He last donned the national tri-colors in the sixth window of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers last February.
Cone is exrtemely glad to have players come on board this easy. But now, the winningest PBA coach faces a problem heading into the Games set on November 30-December 11: Who will he choose for the final lineup?
“The joke we were having while selecting the players is it’s so easy to add on players. It’s really hard to eliminate players. It’s so hard eliminating them,” Cone said. “You see all these names, you’re all, ‘Yes I want him!’
“And it’s really hard to eliminate the guys. Picking the fifteen was really hard. I can’t imagine what it’s gonna be like in another month or so when I have to go down to twelve.”
