Makasama man ang apat na players na sina Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, Mo Tautuaa at Jason Perkins o hindi, mananantiling handa ang koponan ni Tim Cone at ang Gilas Pilipinas sa kanilang pagsagupa sa Asian Games sa Hanzhu, China simula Martes.
Tutulak papuntang Tsina ngayong araw ang mga bataan ni Cone, pero hindi pa rin malinaw sa kanila kung makakasama ang apat na players na hindi kabilang sa initial na 37-man line up na pinadala ng Gilas sa Asian Games organizing committee.
Una na itong tinanggihan ng mga organizers, pero patuloy pa rin ang pagapela ni Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino na mapasama sina Abueva, Romeo, Tautuaa at Perkins.
Pero habang inaayos pa ang apela, patuloy naman ang koponan sa kanilang paghahanda kasama na rin ang kanilang back up plans.
Apat na mga bagong dagdag na players na kasama sa initila na 37-man line up ang naglaro sa Gilas nitong Biyernes at sila ay sina CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter and Chris Ross at guard Kevin Alas, na tinulungan ang koponan sa 86-81 panalo kontra LG Sakers, ang mga dayuhang kalaban mula sa Korean Basketball League, sa kanilang tune up game sa Philsports Arena.
Bukod kay Abueva na may porblemang inaayos sa kanyang pamilya, sumuporta pa rin sina Perkins, Tautuaa at Romeo sa laban ng Gilas.
“They’re here, but Calvin couldn’t make it because he had problems with his kids,” dagdag pa ni Cone. “We really appreciate they came here and sat in the crowd and joined us in the locker room., That was really cool of them being here.”
“Is there no hope for them? They’re breathing. That’s what I can say. They’re breathing at this point, meaning they’re still alive. We’re still working on it and hopefully wd can finalize it before we leave. But by large, we have our 12 right now and they continue to practice. If they come in suddenly, should we take them? That’s the decision we have to make and I think it’s likely that we will because they’re actually longer with us than the new guys and they have the value in terms of size.”
Sa ngayon, ang tanging hangad ni Cone ay mapagpadala ng 12 players na magri-representa sa bansa kung saan may pagkakataon siyang mahigitan ang kanyang dating performance sa Asian Games.
Pinagunahan ni Cone ang huling Philippine team na naguwi mg medalya sa bansa mula sa Asian Games competition sa Bangkok 25 taon na ang nakalipas.
“You cannot judge a team in one game,” said Cone, who refused to get carried away by Gilas’ tune up victory against a formidable team from the KBL.
“Whether it’s good or bad, you never judge a team in one game. You don’t judge the import as well on the first game he played. We’re still adjusting together but we did a lot of positive things out there. But we didn’t come out in this game worried about winning and losing. Everybody else is going to worry about that, but we want to see how we can, first, defend, and number two, move the ball. Those two things I thought we did pretty well.”
