Reyes releases 16-man pool for Gilas

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Reyes described the pool of players as deep, versatile, and skilled.

MANILA, Philippines – Smart-Gilas coach Chot Reyes released the names of the 16-man pool of PBA players who will vie for a roster spot in The Philippine Men’s Basketball Team.

Reyes described the pool of players as deep, versatile, and skilled.

The list includes six cagers from PBA Commissioner’s Cup defending champions Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters namely 2011 PBA MVP Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, Ranidel De Ocampo, 2012 All-Filipino Cup Finals MVP Larry Fonacier, Ryan Reyes, and Kelly Williams.

Also in the pool are LA Tenorio and Sonny Thoss of the Alaska Aces, 2-time PBA MVP James Yap and Marc Pingris of the B-MEG Llamados, Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos of the Petron Blaze Boosters, dynamic scorers Gary David and Marcio Lassiter of the Powerade Tigers, Gabe Norwood of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, and Enrico Villanueva of the crowd darlings, Barangay Ginebra Kings.

No players were selected from the Air 21 Express, Meralco Bolts, and Barako Bull Energy.

Missing from the initial selection are former GILAS cagers like JVee Casio, Chris Lutz, and Japeth Aguilar.

Social media shoutouts

Reyes thanked everyone who sent their messages of support over social networking site Twitter. He also addressed those who did not exactly like the selections saying it is okay and that he is fully aware that there will still be questions no matter who he includes in the list.



PBA Chairman Mamerto Mondragon noted that this is not the final line-up and is still subject to the approval of the PBA and the players’ mother teams.

Reyes also used Twitter to answer fans who were asking about GILAS reinforcement Marcus Douthit. He clarified that Douthit is still part of the roster and was not included in the list because he is not a PBA player.



SMART-Gilas is also working out the naturalization of 7-foot NBA Center JaVale McGee. McGee first came to the Philippines during the SMART Ultimate All Star Weekend where NBA stars played against selected PBA stars and the Philippine National Basketball team.

McGee earlier tweeted that he would love to represent  the Philippines in international competition.

Another pool of players, this time composed of collegiate and amateur basketball players will be announced soon says Reyes. – Rappler.com

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