Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes is fielding the “young turks” from the national team training pool when they compete in the William Jones Cup in Taiwan starting next week.
Reyes selected 16 players to the annual tournament, including members of the ‘cadet’ led by PBA rookies Mac Belo, Roger Pogoy, Kevin Ferrer, Mike Tolomia, Von Pessumal, Carl Bryan Cruz, Jio Jalalon, Matthew Wright, Ed Daquioag and Alfonso Gotladera.
Joining them are amateur stalwarts Keifer Ravena, Kobe Paras, Reymar Jose and Christian Standhardinger, and ex-pro Almond Vosotros.
American Mike Myers will reinforce the team in the July 15-23 tournament.
This will be Belo’s first tournament since he injured his left knee a few months ago, while the 6-foot-8 Myers was TNT KaTropa’s backup import during the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals. He was supposed to fill in for the injured Joshua Smith.
Of the 16 players chosen by Reyes for the Jones Cup, nine are part of the national team that will try to retain the gold medal for the 17th straight time in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games this August in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
They are Tolomia, Ravena, Vosotros, Pessumal, Paras, Ferrer, Cruz, Jose and Standhardinger. With them in the SEA Games are Baser Amer, Ray Parks Jr., and Rosario, while coach Jong Uichico will call the shots in KL.
