Reyes includes Fajardo in new Gilas pool

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes wants Cebuano June Mar Fajardo to have another crack at the national team in its effort to gain international stature in basketball.

Fajardo, a three-time MVP, is the best big man in the country today, averaging 19.9 points, 15.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists through 10 games of the elimination round of the 2016-2017 PBA Philippine Cup.

This early, Fajardo is already building a strong case for an unprecedented fourth straight PBA MVP title.

Despite the early pronouncement of Reyes that he want Gilas to play small ball, he still picked Fa- jardo to complete the line-up along with returning Jayson Castro of Talk ‘N Text , Japeth Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra , Terrence Romeo of Global Port , Paul Lee of Star Hotshots and Calvin Abueva of Alaska.

Also picked to be part of the Gilas Pool are newbies Art Dela Cruz (Blackwater Elite), LA Revilla (Mahindra Floodbuster), Jonathan Grey (Meralco Bolts), Bradwyn Guinto ( NLEX Road Warriors), Norbert Torres (Phoenix Fuel Masters) and Raymond Almazan (Rain or Shine Elasto Painters).

They will be placed into the pool along with the Gilas Cadets who saw action in the Fiba Stankovic Cup last September in Iran.

The Gilas cadets were distrib- uted to the 12 PBA teams through a special draft but are considered part of the Gilas program.

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas was able to convince the PBA to an agreement for each team to send two players to the pool, that is their Gilas Cadets draft selection and one additional player. /