THE GILAS Pilipinas men’s basketball team begins another international quest with the start today of the 2017 Southeast Asian Basketball Men’s Championship at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A week-long event happening till May 18, Gilas’ mission order is to win the tournament to be able to represent the Southeast Asia subzone at the FIBA Asia Cup in August in Beirut, Lebanon.
The Asia Cup will determine the composition of the joint FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Tasked to steer the Philippine national team anew is Chot Reyes, who handled previous iterations of the Gilas team.
His team will be composed of Philippine Basketball Association stalwarts Calvin Abueva (Alaska), Japeth Aguilar (Barangay Ginebra), Raymond Almazan (Rain or Shine), Jio Jalalon and Allein Maliksi (Star), Roger Pogoy, Troy Rosario and Jayson Castro (TNT), June Mar Fajardo (San Miguel), Terrence Romeo (GlobalPort) and Matthew Wright (Phoenix Petroleum), backstopped by naturalized player Andray Blatche.
They will go up against six other teams in the region, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
No championship match will be played in the tournament as the team with the most wins at the end of the tournament is declared the champion and moves on to the Asia Cup.
The Philippines has had great success in the SEABA tournament, having won seven titles out of a possible 11, including the last one in 2015.
But the team is not putting much weight on it, seeing the 2017 edition as a totally different tournament and with the field much improved.
“We are currently focused on winning the SEABA tournament first. We are not looking beyond it for now,” said Mr. Reyes in the run-up to the tournament, which the country is hosting for the first time since 2001.
But if pundits are to be asked, the Philippines has a good chance of claiming the SEABA title once again.
One of them is Levi Verora, Jr., who described the current Gilas as “fit to go” in the SEABA jousts.
“There are no surprises in the team. I think the team is perfect for SEABA. It’s fit to go, deep and very talented,” said the Mr. Verora in an earlier interview with BusinessWorld.
“The players are the kind who can flourish in Gilas’ dribble drive system. They are high basketball IQ players and are very flexible and can play multiple positions,” added Mr. Verora, who covers the Southeast Asian basketball scene with the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).
But Mr. Verora cautioned that the Philippine team still needs to come out and earn the title for other teams would not just hand it over without a fight.
“The level of play of other Southeast Asian teams has risen in the last couple of years. They are able to gain traction with the ABL and other domestic leagues where they get to play with American imports and hone their skills,” said Mr. Verora, who named Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia as teams that will be competitive and challenge the Philippines.
As per the SEABA schedule, Indonesia will take on Singapore at 3 p.m. in the tournament opener today, with Malaysia facing Thailand at 5 p.m. and Gilas making its debut against Myanmar at 7 p.m.
Tickets for days with Gilas playing are pegged at P950 for Patron A, P900 for Patron B, P880 for Patron C, P550 for Box VIP, P450 for Box -- Regular, P200 for Upper Box and P50 for General Admission.