Justin Brownlee is still in Gilas Pilipinas' plans per the SBP, as reports swirled the past few days that Thailand is barring naturalized players from competing in the Southeast Asian Games in December.
As far as the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) is concerned, Justin Brownlee is still part of the Gilas Pilipinas lineup for the Southeast Asian Games next month.
SBP executive director Erika Dy made the clarification on Monday, Nov. 24, following reports Thailand’s local organizing committee (LOC) are banning naturalized players from the biennial regional meet.
“Nothing naman happened no. As we know the SEA Games hasn’t really issued a clear set of rules,” Dy told One Sports.
“They issued a technical handbook, but in the technical handbook itself there are contradicting paragraphs with regard to eligibility.”
Dy said they submitted the same lineup they announced weeks ago, which includes the beloved Ginebra import as well as fellow naturalized Filipino Ange Kouame.
There’s no feedback yet from the Thailand LOC with regard to who’s eligible and who’s not.
“The lineup was due last week so we submitted the lineup and we haven’t actually heard back from them. So I couldn’t confirm if Justin’s out or not,” said Dy.
Gilas is looking to defend its throne in the multi-sport spectacle in Bangkok after regaining the gold medal in the 2023 edition in Cambodia.
Also in the lineup submitted are Matthew Wright, Ray Parks Jr., Dave Ildefonso, Mike Phillips, Kymani Ladi, Veejay Pre, and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, with Norman Black serving as head coach.
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Like most sportswriters, Jan Ballesteros once dreamed of becoming a professional hooper. But he learned the hard way that it’s not for everyone.
He continues to be involved in the sport he loves, but this time as a member of the PBA Press Corps. Aside from primarily covering the PBA, he is also assigned to cover Gilas Pilipinas.