Depleted Gilas kicks off Asia Cup buildup

Gilas Pilipinas formally kicked off its buildup for the FIBA Asia Cup by training at The Upper Deck gym in Pasig City on Monday.

The attendance was far from ideal as some players were missing due to various commitments.

With that, Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone tapped Troy Rosario, Zav Lucero, Rhenz Abando and RJ Abarrientos to be part of the “long list” that they will submit to the Asia Cup organizers.

With mainstays like Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Troy Rosario, and Jamie Malonzo of Barangay Ginebra as well as CJ Perez and June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel figuring in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup semifinals, Cone was left with a very thin squad that had a light workout.

Meanwhile, Calvin Oftana and Roger Pogoy of TNT Tropang Giga are already through their semis assignment but they didn’t join the first Gilas training to rest their banged-up bodies.

Showing up were Chris Newsome, Carl Tamayo, Dwight Ramos, Rosario, Oftana, Perez, Abarrientos, and Malonzo.

“We were supposed to train tomorrow but with Game 7 coming up, we decided to call it off,” said Cone, also the head coach of Barangay Ginebra.

“Let’s see what happens on Thursday and Friday depending on who’s in and who’s out.”

With a depleted roster, Cone had no choice but to add some players as a matter of compliance.

“We added Lucero in the long list but he’s in the States right now and Rhenz Abando who will be competing in Taiwan. We added a couple more guys because our 12 is not yet set in stone,” Cone added.

The battle that awaits the Filipinos will not be easy.

They will be seeing action in the FIBA Asia Cup in Saudi Arabia from 5 to 17 August at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where they are bracketed in Group D together with New Zealand, Chinese Taipei and Iraq.

Gilas will open its campaign against the Taiwanese on 6 August before tackling dangerous Kiwis on 8 August. They will wrap up their pool campaign against the Iraqis on 10 August before marching into the knockout rounds.