Injuries cast doubt on performance of 5 Seaba-bound Smart Gilas players

Already plagued by injuries, Smart Gilas Pilipinas suffered another when shooting guard Marcio Lassiter hurt his back in practice.

Lassiter’s injury left the national team, which is down to a 10-man lineup, with only five healthy players on the eve of its departure to the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship in Jakarta.

Still recovering from respective injuries are guards JV Casio (foot) and Chris Lutz (quadriceps) and forward Japeth Aguilar (ankle) while Dylan Ababou is still nursing a fever.

“Not so good,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman, who earlier allowed Dondon Hontiveros and Asi Taulava to rejoin their respective teams in the PBA with the Nationals expected to face lightweight rivals in the Seaba competition.

The Nationals face Malaysia in the opener on Thursday of the four-nation meet where the top three finishers advance to the 2011 Fiba Asia Championship in Wuhan, China, on Sept. 15 to 25 where the winner gets a slot to the 2012 London Olympics.

“I’m not even sure how many players will be available,” said Toroman. He added that he would know today if the 6-foot-1 Lassiter could play in the tournament while Casio, Aguilar, Lutz and Ababou were all considered on a day-to-day basis.

The only healthy players left on Toroman’s roster are skipper Chris Tiu, co-team captain Mark Barroca, forwards Mac Baracael and Jason Ballesteros, and naturalized center Marcus Douthit.

“It’s a tough situation, with the injuries and not having enough players. But we’ll do all we can to compete in the Seaba,” added Toroman.

Smart Gilas tackles host Indonesia on Friday and Singapore the following day. The top two teams then dispute the crown on Sunday. /inquirer