THE PBA continued to show their commitment towards making the best national team possible as league commissioner Chito Salud agreed to revise and shorten the Governor’s Cup later this year to give the Gilas Pilipinas ample time to prepare for the Fiba Asia men’s championships, which will be hosted by the country from Aug. 1 to 11.
According to a report that was posted on Spin.ph, Salud issued this statement after the PBA Board meeting yesterday at their office in Quezon City.
“The board has agreed for the commissioner to study and abbreviate the third conference, which was supposed to start on May 12 and end on July 28. This schedule had been compressed already by the PBA after consultation with the SBP (Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas) and the national team leaders after we were given the impression that the Fiba qualifying tournament, which we will now host, will start at the end of August or first week of July. Now it turns out the Fiba tournament will start on Aug. 1, so now, our July 28 will seem impractical so we will (again) shorten the schedule. Details will follow,” said Salud.
The tournament is a crucial one for the national team as it serves as a qualifier for the World Championships, which will take place in Spain next year.
Also approved was the commissioner’s proposal to mandate each PBA squad to lend, at the very least, one player to the Gilas team.
However, head coach Chot Reyes also reserved the right to pass up on teams that don’t have players which may be utilized by the Gilas./Correspondent Jonas Panerio