Battlefield: Nagoya

It’s going to be an uphill climb for Gilas Pilipinas in the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president (SBP) Ricky Vargas admitted that the battle will not be easy despite the organizers’ decision to implement a “passport-only” eligibility rule that will give Gilas coach Tim Cone the luxury of deploying Filipino-Americans like Mike Phillips and Quentin Millora-Brown as well as naturalized players Justin Brownlee, Ange Kouame, and, possibly, Bennie Boatwright at the same time.

Aside from that, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) will also be having an extended break from the third window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers in July up to the Asian Games in September, giving Gilas a 40-day training period to prepare for its title defense.

The situation greatly contradicts what they had three years ago when the federation scampered to form a team following Gilas Pilipinas’ fruitless performance in the FIBA Basketball World Cup that led to the resignation of its coach, Chot Reyes.

With that, Reyes’ chief deputy, Tim Cone, stepped in and formed a team composed of PBA players. Then, luck bounced the Filipinos’ way and they were able to stun powerhouse China in the semifinals before pulling off a heart-stopping 70-60 win over Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and the Jordanians in the gold medal match.

But Vargas believes that the coming edition of the Asiad will be a different story.

“Since we’re the defending champions, it’s going to be tough. Everybody’s preparing to beat us,” said Vargas, who knows the level of competition in the Asian Games like the back of his hand being a longtime boxing president and a former Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) chief.

China, for one, is expected to go hard to avenge one of the most painful defeats they had in the international arena, while South Korea is leaving no stone unturned in forming a super team that is capable of capturing the gold medal. In fact, the Koreans will have a new head coach in Nikolais Mazuls — the 45-year-old Latvian guru who is responsible for developing NBA star Kristaps Porzingis.

Although there is an ongoing military conflict in the Middle East, countries like Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar should still not be taken for granted as they have been figuring prominently in major events. They are also expected to be the main beneficiary of the “passport-only” eligibility guidelines due to their relaxed citizenship rules and massive resources.

Home team Japan should also not be overlooked. Although reports have it that the Japanese will not deploy their NBA players like Rui Hachimura of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kui Kawamura of the Chicago Bulls, they should still not be taken for granted, as they definitely want to come up with a strong performance in their first hosting of the Asian Games since 1994 in Hiroshima.

“They already made a statement that they will not bring in their NBA players,” SBP executive director Erika Dy said.

“But we still can’t take them for granted. That’s Japan. They are the host country.”

Vargas, however, stressed that things will change depending on the developments in the Middle East as the military conflict between the United States-Israel alliance and Iran is getting worse each passing day.

“We’ll see. We’re monitoring the situation in the Middle East. Even us in Smart and PLDT, we’re monitoring what’s happening there,” said Vargas, who is in close contact with the POC and Asian Games chief of mission Al Panlilio.

“If this thing further escalates, there will be major changes in the Asian Games. Yung Iran, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon… baka di na pumunta yan.”