By WAYLON GALVEZ
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Philippine team mentor Yeng Guiao now has an idea on who he will pick for the two window games in the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament for Asia.
Guiao, appointed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) to handle the national team in the two games while head coach Chot Reyes is serving a one-game suspension, met with his coaching staff Tuesday morning to discuss the possibilities with regards to forming the squad.
In Guiao’s radar are Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter, Scottie Thomson and Ian Sangalang.
“We asked for Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter, Scottie Thomson and Ian Sangalang for the qualifiers, then we’ll add them up to the core of the team in the Asian Games,” said Guiao
Guiao said he already informed the newly appointed Special Assistant to the President (SAP) to SBP chief Al Panlilio, Ryan Gregorio about the matter.
The national team will be playing against Iran in Tehran on Sept. 13 and against Qatar on Sept. 17 in Manila.
Guiao, however, is troubled by the status of Greg Slaughter, Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle – all have a ‘naturalized’ status as far as the FIBA rules.
Pringle and Standhardiner are currently in Guiao’s team here in the Asian Games, and their status are regular participants and not ‘naturalized’ while Slaughter has played in several FIBA-sanctioned events also as a local player.
Apparently, the rules of FIBA have changed and it will now affect the 7-foot center Slaughter, while the documents of Pringle and Standhardinger are considered by FIBA as naturalized.
The 6-foot-10 Fil-German Standhardinger played as a naturalized participant for the Philippines during the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon, where the national team placed seventh overall.
“So we have to decide who among the three we’ll use as naturalized player,” said Guiao. “As you know, we can only play one naturalized player in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.”
