Marcio Lassiter pulls out of Gilas pool

Just hours after Ginebra's Greg Slaughter announced his withdrawal from the Gilas Pilipinas training pool, the San Miguel Beermen's Marcio Lassiter publicly declined his invitation to train with the national team.

"It wouldn't feel right for me to take away from players who deserved it. The guys who've been through the battles and wars, they deserve it. I feel like they have some unfinished business in Spain," said Lassiter, echoing Slaughter's deference to the original 12-man national team that finished runners-up in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship.

[Related: Slaughter withdraws from Gilas training pool]

As a former national player, Lassiter said he wouldn't want to be responsible for taking away a slot from someone on the prior incarnation of the team. "It's just that the timing for it, it wasn't there. If ever something comes down the road I'd be glad to offer my services," he continued. "It's just that at this point in time I don't want to take away from players who deserved it."

"This wasn't a management decision, it was totally personal for me," said Lassiter, quickly dispelling rumors that sprung up online that the SMC Group's upper management orchestrated a pull-out from the national squad, which is funded by the Manuel V. Pangilinan Group and has a core of players from Talk N' Text, an MVP Group team. The former Gilas I recruit currently plays for SMC's San Miguel Beermen.

Lassiter also said that he spoke to national team coach Chot Reyes, who was aware of the situation and gave his blessing.

In addition, the Beerman said he wanted time to heal a lingering back problem he suffered in the 2013 Philippine Cup. "I don't know if you guys remember but in the last All-Filipino I took a fall, and it pretty much messed up my back, it was pretty damaging. At the time I wanted to take some time off but I saw the situation and wanted to be there for my team," he said. "I should've taken a whole conference off but I played through it. It was my decision to be there for my guys."

"If I'm also not 100 percent, I wouldn't want to jeopardize the Gilas stint [and] have them pick up the slack for one man," he finished.

Last conference, Lassiter normed 14.75 points while shooting 34.82 percent from long-range, along with 4.20 points, 2.70 assists and 0.90 steals.  - RAF, GMA News