The Pilipinas Smart-Gilas played its first 3 games in the 26th FIBA Asia Championship for Men in Wuhan, China without wingmen Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter. The result? A 2-1 record. The Gilas beat UAE and Bahrain but fell to the taller Chinese basketball team.
It is quite sad that eligibility issues were only addressed on the eve of the competitions. The Philippines along with middle-eastern power Qatar were most affected. Qatar had 5 players ruled ineligible. Some quarters think that these developments were politically motivated. The one handling the issue is from Lebanon, one of the teams that expect to figure well in this year's tourney.
Some people say that Lebanon is scared to face the Philippines and Qatar. Maybe. It is not nice to see that games are decided in the boardroom rather than in the basketball court. The Philippines is probably a top 6 team with the 2 "barred" players. Without them, the semifinal hopes can be dim.
I know that the SBP leadership will exhaust all means to make them eligible in the next rounds of the championships. Hopefully, they will succeed. If not, then it will have a bigger impact on the recruitment process for the future national teams. A lot of our prized recruits are half-Filipinos. If the issues are not clarified, then the Gilas program will be left in shambles.
Let see what happens in the next few days...
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