AMERICAN Marcus Douthit is back in training after a two-month break with Smart Gilas on Wednesday and although he looked a bit rusty, team manager Frankie Lim said he will be in shape sooner than expected.
“Blame jetlag,” Lim told the BusinessMirror, referring to Douthit who could have been a vital cog for Gilas in last November’s Guangzhou 16th Asian Games had he been naturalized in time.
The House and the Senate have already given the green light on Douthit’s naturalization and its completion awaits the signature of President Aquino.
Gilas head coach Rajko Toroman wanted the six-foot-10 American on his team, specifically for the Fiba-Asia Men’s Championship where the lone slot for Asia for the 2012 London Olympic’s is at stake. China is hosting the event in Hubei in September.
Team captain Chris Tiu, Dylan Ababou, Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz were also only able to join Gilas’s practice on Wednesday. The team is preparing for an invitational tournament in Dubai from January 20 to 29.
Gilas actually resumed training last December 28 but only half of the squad showed up. Tiu wanted his minor injuries to heal completely while Ababou just came from a vacation in the US, while Lassiter and Lutz’s return was delayed by a blizzard also in the US. Still unaccounted for is Greg Slaughter, although he is no longer expected to be on Toroman’s roster because he has enrolled at Ateneo and is bound to play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.
Douthit will play as an import in Dubai. Gilas finished third in the same tournament last year and this time around, Toroman indicated he is interested in inviting Asi Taulava anew.
Taulava’s Philippine Basketball Association team Meralco was already booted out of the Philippine Cup. The 37-year-old Taulava has been practicing with Gilas after the Bolts were eliminated.
Besides Dubai and Hubei, also lined up for Gilas are the William R. Jones Cup in Taiwan in July and a tournament in Belgrade in early September.
“It’s again a busy year for Smart Gilas,” said Lim, who bared plans of fielding the team in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup as a guest squad. “Playing in the PBA would be beneficial for Smart Gilas and the PBA is already aware of our intention to join.”
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Noli Eala, meanwhile, bared that the country, in principle, was already awarded the right to host the Champions Cup.
“In principle, the event has been awarded to the Philippines subject to the report of Fiba-Asia deputy secretary-general Hagop Khajirian on the facilities available for hosting and the terms and conditions of the hosting agreement,” said Eala. “Hagop will be visiting Manila soon. We are proposing to stage the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup in mid-May.”
It will be the third time the Philippines will host the Champions Cup, a tournament among Asia’s best club teams which will be reinforced by foreign players. The Philippines won the 1996 edition behind a Hapee Toothpaste team backstopped by Americans Bobby Parks and Tony Harris.
The Philippines also ruled the event in 1984 (Northern Cement) and 1988 (Swift).
Nine years later, the Philippines against hosted the event with the San Miguel Beermen finishing fifth behind champion Al-Rayyan of Qatar.
For the last two years, SBP’s developmental team Smart Gilas has been competing in the tournament. The Gilas squad reinforced by American C.J. Giles placed fifth in 2009 while the squad featuring Serbia’s Milan Vucicevic wound up in ninth place.
This year, Smart Gilas will most likely represent the tournament with naturalized player Marcus Douthit beefing up the squad but the composition of the squad depends on the January 25 meeting of the Philippine Basketball Association team owners.
The SBP is seeking the help of the pro league for the 2011 Fiba Asia Men’s Championship by loaning more players to the team and Smart Gilas could use the Champions Cup as its first major test.
Aside from the Champions Cup, the SBP is also trying to get the hosting rights for the Fiba Asia Under-16 Boy’s tournament.
Joel Orellana, Business Mirror
