GILAS Pilipinas enters what coach Yeng Guiao referred to as 'approaching crunch time' in terms of the national team's preparations for the coming FIBA World Cup in China.
The squad left for Spain early Sunday (7:40 a.m.) albeit with just an 11-man roster for an eight-day training camp that will see the Filipinos play a pair of tune-up games and participate in a mini pocket tournament.
Guiao held his last practice with the team Saturday at the Meralco gym prior to their European departure.
"Ito na siguro yung approaching crucial moments of our preparation," said the Gilas coach.
"This is an important stage for our preparation. This is the time where we can really focus 100 percent on what we need to do on the system that we're trying to set up."
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In doing so, Guiao though will have to make do with just an active 10-man roster led by World Cup veterans Gabe Norwood and naturalized player Andray Blatche.
Joining the two on the trip are Mark Barroca, CJ Perez, Robert Bolick, Paul Lee, Poy Erram, Japeth Aguilar, Matthew Wright, and Beau Belga.
Sophomore guard Kiefer Ravena is the 11th man on the team, though he can't join the team in its tune-up matches against Congo and Ivory Coast pending the lifting of his suspension by FIBA.
At least eight players from the 19-man pool submitted by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) to FIBA won't be around and it includes June Mar Fajardo, Christian Standhardinger, Marcio Lassiter (injured), Roger Pogoy, Troy Rosario, Stanley Pringle, Raymund Almazan, and NBA star Jordan Clarkson.
Fajardo, Standhardinger, Pogoy, and Rosario are skipping the training camp as their respective teams will be playing in the PBA Commissioner's Cup finals.
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Pringle according to Guiao, was advised to just rest his injured ankle, while Almazan's application for a Spanish visa had been denied.
Clarkson, the Cleveland Cavaliers' rising star, will likewise not travel with the team for obvious reason.
Lassiter meanwhile, dropped by and showed support to his teammate as he continues to recover from the grade 2 MCL injury on his left knee, which the Fil-Am gunner suffered during San Miguel's first round playoffs series against second seed NorthPort.
Despite the limitations of Gilas' undermanned roster, Guiao said the team will try to maximize the time it is going to spend going up against bigger and heftier opponents.
"We'll just try to get all the work done to put this team together in the eighth days that were in Spain," he said.
From Manila, Gilas Pilipinas takes a nine-hour flight to Dubai, where after a two-hour layover, the team will proceed to take a connecting, seven-hour flight to Spain.
The Filipinos will land in Madrid and then travel to Guadalajara to play Congo and Ivory Coast in back-to-back exhibition matches.
Following its stay in Guadalajara, the team goes to Malaga for the four-team, crossover pocket meet, where the winner of the Gilas- Congo game will meet the winner of the Spain-Ivory Coast match-up.
"There is really good competition there so masusukat na natin kung talagang handa na tayo," added Guiao. (RG)
