MANILA — Coach Chot Reyes named the 14 players that he will bring to Melbourne for Gilas Pilipinas’ FIBA World Cup Qualifiers match against Australia on Thursday.
“Finally got [a] go-signal to announce GILAS entourage leaving [today]: Jason, Kief, Kev, Jio, RR, Matt, Allein, Gabe, Cal, CBC, Jap, Abu, JMF, Dray,” the multi-titled coach said on Sunday night via Twitter, pertaining to Jayson Castro, Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Alas, Jio Jalalon, RR Pogoy, Matt Wright, Allein Maliksi, Gabe Norwood, Calvin Abueva, Carl Cruz, Japeth Aguilar, Abu Tratter, Junemar Fajardo, and Andray Blatche.
Abueva and Tratter are the interesting selections of Reyes for various reasons. Abueva was initially cut from the Gilas pool for the second window of the said tournament series after missing the first three practice sessions of Gilas.
But with the injuries to Troy Rosario and Mac Belo as well as making frequent appearances during practice following the prior announcement, Reyes opted to add the Alaska winger to the “Final 14”.
“Troy [was] not given medical clearance yet, while Mac [is] still not 100 percent,” Reyes said.
On the other hand, Tratter is the lone member of the Gilas Cadets who will be going to Melbourne.
The Marinerong Pilipino big man only joined the training by the second session but has been attending the practices frequently ever since.
Reyes actually hinted that he could bring Tratter to the trip in a prior interview.
The Gilas pool still had a practice early Monday at the Meralco Gym in Pasig City before the team packs its bags for Melbourne.