Philippines bids Gilas Pilipinas goodbye as Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) starts to search for the next national basketball squad minus coach Chot Reyes as announced today, October 30.
The announcement effectively disbanded the national team that finished second in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship and removed Chot Reyes as national team coach.
In a statement, the SBP said its president, Manny V. Pangilinan, proposed a "participative and consultative approach" in the initial selection process for future national teams to address at least nine international tournaments scheduled for 2015.
"Elite tournaments like the FIBA Asia Qualifying, World Cup, Asian Games, which involve PBA players, will go through the committee composed of SBP Board members from the PBA, PBA D-League and the SBP," it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a screening-selection committee composed of SBP board members representing the UAAP, NCAA, CESAFI, NAASCU and the SBP, through executive director Sonny Barrios, will oversee the team selection not involving PBA players.
Among the key tournaments SBP is preparing for are the 28th Southeast Asian Games in June 2015 and the 28th FIBA Asia Championship in China in August 2015. The FIBA Asia tilt will serve as the regional qualifier to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The committees, according to the SBP, will short-list candidates for players and coach for submission to the SBP Executive Committee made up of the SBP chairman, president, vice chairman, vice president and executive director "for ultimate final approval" of the SBP Board of Trustees.
PBA commissioner Chito Salud said he has met with Pangilinan on Tuesday and relayed the comments and inputs of all the PBA team owners regarding Gilas Pilipinas, which after a superb performance in the FIBA Asia and FIBA Worlds nosedived to the Philippines' seventh place finish in the Asian Games -- an all-time worst.
"These comments and sentiments were received openly by Mr. Pangilinan, and during last Tuesday's SBP Board of Trustees meeting, in response to the comments and suggestions made by the PBA team owners, the SBP has approved the creation of a committee tasked to select the head coach of the national team and players from the PBA that would form the national pool," Salud said in a statement.
