Serbian Rajko Toroman said the inclusion of Douthit would change the team’s complexion for next year’s Fiba-Asia Men’s Championship, which provides the ticket for the continent to the London Olympics in 2012.

“We will not have too much adjustment. Our biggest adjustment is Marcus Douthit,” said Toroman, referring to the six-foot-10 American. “He will change everything.”

Many teams adhere to the practice of naturalizing a foreign player to beef up their squads and it is not only in basketball where foreign-born athletes don their new countries’ colors and win medals.

Gilas had Philippine Basketball Association players Asi Taulava (Meralco), Kelly Williams (Talk ’N Text) and Solomon Mercado (Rain or Shine) in Guangzhou. Mercado, however, was a major letdown because of his injured feet, which worsened at the competitions in the Asian Games. Speculations rose the injury or its state was concealed and that Mercado should not have been in Guangzhou in the first place.

Guangzhou was the biggest disappointment for Philippine basketball. No national team since 1982 missed the Asian Games semifinals, although a squad was unable to wind up inside the top six in 1966.

The Philippine squad was knocked out in the quarterfinals by eventual silver medalist South Korea, 66-74. It was pushed to sixth spot by 2006 Asian Games runner-up Qatar in the battle for fifth, 71-81.

Toroman said the finish was “not bad, but also not good” for the team, but stressed his staff will deeply evaluate what transpired in Guangzhou.

Asked if he would consider more pros for Gilas, he said: “We don’t have any answer for that right now.”

PBA commissioner Atty. Chito Salud, in a recent chat with the BusinessMirrror, said the league is still willing to lend anew three players to Gilas. Anything more than that, he said, would need the PBA board’s approval.

“As long as the players agree and their respective teams also agree, we don’t see any problem with that,” said Salud. “But kung more than three, hindi pa namin masasagot ’yan.”

Toroman said Williams and Taulava were helpful on the defensive end but the team’s offense suffered because the pros joined Gilas for only a short period of time.

“Our offense was not like before and that was our problem. With Marcus, we will have more offensive options,” he said.

Injuries also plagued the team—other than Mercado. Six-foot-nine forward Japeth Aguilar never played because of a partial tear in his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his right knee, an injury he sustained in a tune-up game against Dongguan Leopards a few days before the Asiad. The others who played hurt were Marcio Lassiter (hip), Chris Tiu (groin) and JV Casio (groin).

The team arrived on Saturday and will take a break for the holidays. Gilas has been invited to play in an invitational tournament in Dubai early next year.

Joel Orellana, Business Mirror