Future looks bright for PHL basketball -- Guiao
“It’s only fitting that we send the best players to play in major international event. If you don’t let them play, you won’t know how far we’re gonna go. You would always think, ‘what if we send the best players?’ That’s also a measure of our development as a basketball country,” Mr. Guiao told BusinessWorld.
Mr. Guiao’s comments came on the heels of the announcement of the 24-man pool who will represent Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA Asia Cup. Some of the names included the best players from the PBA -- June Mar Fajardo, Jayson Castro, Terrence Romeo, Calvin Abueva, Japeth Aguilar, Allein Maliksi, Gabe Norwood and Troy Rosario.
These players will join the other notables in the pool which include rookie standouts Roger Pogoy, Matthew Wright, Jio Jalalon, non-PBA stars Kiefer Ravena, Ray Parks, Kobe Paras and Christian Standhardinger and naturalized players Andray Blatche.
Seeing the best players being allowed to play means the Philippines will get the opportunity to test how far they can go, according to Mr. Guiao.
But for the general manager and head coach of NLEX, regardless of what happens in the FIBA Asia Cup, Philippines basketball is headed towards the right direction.
“The future looks good because we now has the size and talent, which we see from the up and coming players. We see (6-foot-10) Kai Sotto, (6-foot-9) AJ Edu and the one I’ve seen in YouTube, a Fil-Am player from Alaska, Kamaka Hepa and he’s one boy we need to look at. I’m sure he’s half-Filipino. He’s a 6-foot-9 player also. If we can include them to the national team, including Standhardinger, then size won’t be an excuse for us anymore. We used to be a small team, but by that time, we’ll have the materials and we only need preparation for that,” added Mr. Guiao.
Source: http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Sports&title=future-looks-bright-for-phl-basketball----guiao&id=148568
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