With six-foot-10 center Marcus Douthit as the team’s reinforcement and possibly Asi Taulava backing him up, the Serbian is confident his team can match or even surpass its third place the last time.

“I think we will be much stronger than before,” said Toroman. Smart Gilas leaves on Sunday for the annual tournament that features club teams mostly from the Middle East countries.

“But the competition there will be tough because they will have two to three imports each,” Toroman added.

Last year Gilas team had Jamal Sampson but the American hardly contributed to Toroman’s team. He was often injured during the tournament.

Despite’s Sampson’s lackluster performance, Gilas was able to pull off surprises and even lost by only three points to eventual champion Al Riyadi, beefed up by former Smart Gilas naturalization candidate CJ Giles, in the semifinals, 76-79.

The Filipinos also beat Al Jalaa of Syria in the battle for third, with JV Casio being named the best guard of the tournament.

Toroman said they are hoping the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) will again allow Taulava to play for Gilas because Taulava’s team Meralco is no longer playing in the Philippine Cup.

If the PBA agrees to loan Taulava again, Toroman said Gilas has a strong chance of advancing to the semifinal round.

“We have only 20 days to be back in shape and be competitive in the tournament, but I’m confident that with Marcus and possibly Asi, we can play in the semis,” said Toroman.

Except for Greg Slaughter, the rest of the Gilas mainstays will be back including Aldrech Ramos and Dylan Ababou, who were scratched from the Guangzhou Asian Games roster following the inclusion of pros Kelly Williams and Solomon Mercado.

Joel Orellana, Business Mirror