Chot mulls options for third window
Gilas head coach Chot Reyes said yesterday both Andray Blatche and Christian Standhardinger may be listed in the initial pool for any home-andaway series in the Asia/Pacific qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup but only one naturalized import is allowed in the final 12man lineup to be submitted the day before each game of every window.
For the first window last November, Reyes turned in a pool of 24 and for the second window last month, the roster listed 20. Up to 24 players may be named to the pool and the final 12 for each game in every window will come only from the initial cast. FIBA rules permit only one naturalized import for every national team with the limitation of playing for one country in his basketball lifetime. If a player has more than one citizenship, he or she must choose which country to represent in FIBA.
While Standhardinger is half-Filipino, he is classified as a naturalized import by FIBA because of a quirk in the eligibility rules that require a player with multiple citizenships to represent the country for which he received a passport before turning 16 to qualify as a local. Standhardinger also has a German passport. To assure FIBA of genuine lineage, the SBP has suggested DNA testing in the case of a player with multiple citizenships seeking to represent a country as a local regardless of when the passport was issued.
Reyes, however, said he’s not certain if San Miguel Beer will allow both Standhardinger and JuneMar Fajardo to play for Gilas even if the PBA has now allowed open recruitment without limitation from any team. Standhardinger will join San Miguel after his stint with Hong Kong in the ABL which ends its regular season on March 28. The top six placers among nine teams will advance to the ABL playoffs. On whether he can include Standhardinger in the pool or not to keep his options open for a naturalized import, Reyes said, “we’ll have to ask San Miguel first.”
As for Blatche, Reyes said he’ll rejoin Xinjiang in the Chinese league playoffs. Blatche played only five games for Xinjiang in the regular season, averaging 12.8 points and 6.4 rebounds. He hasn’t suited up for Xinjiang since a win over Beijing last Dec. 17. The Chinese league playoffs are scheduled from March 3 to April 12 and the finals from April 15 to May 1.
“The problem for Dray to come in early is who will he practice with if the PBA will release players for full-time practice only on June 25?” said Reyes. “We can have a trainer work with him but that’s not going to put him in game shape just like this past second window. Dray was in good shape but not in game shape. He’ll play in the Chinese league playoffs but by the time June comes around, he would’ve been off for 1 1/2 months.”
The deadline to submit the initial pool of players for the third window is June 11 or 14 days before the official start of the series on June 25. The Philippines will play Chinese-Taipei on the road on June 29 and Australia in the Philippine Arena on July 2.
After two windows, the Philippines is second in Group B with a 3-1 record. Australia is first with a 4-0 mark, ChineseTaipei third with 1-3 and Japan, fourth with 0-4. The top three finishers of Groups B and D after three windows will combine to form a new bracket in the second round of three more windows. The standings in Group D are Iran 3-1, Kazakhstan 3-1, Qatar 1-3 and Iraq 1-3. The games in the fourth window or first in the second round will be played on Sept. 13 and 16. Games in the fifth window will be on Nov. 30 and Dec. 3 while games in the sixth window will be on Feb. 21 and 24.