By REYNALD MAGALLON
The 12 players who were tasked to carry the pride, hope and prayers of the entire basketball-crazy nation on their shoulders have finally been named.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes has formed arguably the tallest and the most talented Gilas roster ever assembled for the country’s goal of becoming the best placed Asian team and book a spot to next year’s Paris Olympics.
Leading the way in that mission is of course, NBA star Jordan Clarkson who will become the team’s most potent weapons as the hosts try to challenge the fancied teams — the so-called powerhouses of the world.
Trying to compliment Clarkson’s offensive wizardry is a slew of towers inside the paint led by 7-foot-3 young big man Kai Sotto.
Gilas’ biggest revelation AJ Edu and World Cup veterans June Mar Fajardo and Japeth Aguilar formed the tallest frontline in history of the national team with no players standing below 6-foot-9.
Running with Clarkson at the wings are a group of sweet shooting, athletic yet scrappy two-way players in Jamie Malonzo, Rhenz Abando, and RR Pogoy.
Quarterbacking for the rest of the crew are heady point guards spearheaded by Scottie Thompson and the ever-consistent Dwight Ramos along with Kiefer Ravena and CJ Perez.
Chris Newsome, who religiously attended every Gilas practice since the announcement of the pool was the final cut.
Calvin Oftana, Ray Parks and Thirdy Ravena were already not attending Gilas practice including the last three tune-up games.
Aguilar, who was also part of the earlier two versions of Gilas World Cup, feels the current lineup is already the most talented ever assembled but will still need to have the same cohesion and fight the 2014 team possess.
“Totally different yung team namin ng 2014, may samahan kami ng 2014, may samahan rin naman ngayon pero talent wise, mas talented yung mga guys ngayon pero syempre kailangan pa rin naman iemulate yung naging team namin nung 2014,” said Aguilar.
This version of Gilas though is looking to surpass what the 2014 Gilas, led by Jimmy Alapag, Marc Pingris, Gabe Norwood and Andray Blatche achieved – winning their first world cup game after ending a 36-year absence in the world stage.
This time, Gilas is hoping to pick up two victories to at least advance to the second round and get a chance to become the best placed Asian team and book a spot to next year’s Paris Olympics.
Standing in their way though are Group A teams Dominican Republic, Angola and Italy.
