Norman Black added UAAP stars Mike Phillips and Kymani Ladi, as well as Thirdy Ravena, to the Gilas Pilipinas pool for the Southeast Asian Games.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Norman Black added three more names to his 11-man Southeast Asian Games pool—UAAP stars Mike Phillips and Kymani Ladi, as well as pro veteran Thirdy Ravena—following unique circumstances ahead of the biennial tournament in Thailand coming at the end of the year.
Norman Black is handling the team for the SEA Games after Tim Cone.
During his interview with former PBA Commissioner Noli Eala on his show Power & Play, Black said that he is remaining open to a possible 12th pool member.
“We have 11 guys who have committed. Actually, we have 12, but I’m leaving the last slot open, because I’m trying to recruit another big guy,” Black said.
“Thailand does have big guys that play well, they’re good players so we have to have a lineup where we can match up.”
Before naming the trio, the eight other players in Black’s pool are Justin Brownlee, Ray Parks Jr., Matthew Wright, Ange Kouame, Remy Martin, Jason Brickman, Dave Ildefonso, and Veejay Pre.
It won’t be as simple as Black finding someone to recruit though, as he also said there may be some challenges in terms of changing rules.
At the moment, the SEA Games is looking to employ the “passport only” rule, which means players will be eligible to play for the national team as long as they have a passport of the country that they will be playing for.
However, Black remains cautious since the rules seem to be still up in the air — with the possibility of “FIBA rules” being employed.
That is, players will need to get their passports for the country they will play for before the age of 16.
This rule will be a big thorn on Gilas’ side, especially since Black said that the PBA has not given permission for a lot of the pro players.
“I’m just hoping they don’t change [rules] this late in the day and I say that because we made our pool based on the first rules. So now, we have a lot of players, mostly in the PBA, who are not being given permission to play with the national team in the SEA Games, so those guys will be completely out,” said Black.
“We won’t be able to recruit them, and then some of the guys who did not get their passports before age 16. Now we’re back to six players already, we’re down to five, six players.”
Among players that might be affected if rules will change include Martin, Brickman, Kouame, Brownlee, Phillips, and Ladi.
Phillips and Ladi will also be operating on the decision of the UAAP, especially since the collegiate league will likely run until the same time as the SEA Games in December.
As it stands though, Black will be able to assemble a rag tag team that he believes is capable of taking the Philippines far in the SEA Games.
With fingers crossed that the eligibility rules don’t change and timing is kind to the program, Black is counting on the talent of his guys.
“We have a pretty decent team. It’s not a team to sneeze at,” he said.
Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.