Gilas Pilipinas faces possible lineup issues with impending PBA, FIBA bubbles

Philippine basketball is finally showing some signs of life after the PBA on Thursday announced its decision to resume the season in a bubble setup.

FIBA followed suit a day later, ditching its home and away format in favor of a bubble blueprint in the continental qualifiers for the November and February windows.

While these are welcome developments for Gilas Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin, the situation presents a conundrum for the national team.

With the PBA targeting an October 9 restart and the conference expected to run for around two months, Gilas mainstays will likely be unavailable for the November window.

Under the circumstances, can the national team field an all-cadets lineup?

"We don't have enough cadets to fill out a roster," Baldwin admitted in a virtual press conference on Monday.

He said Gilas has control over only Matt and Mike Nieto, Isaac Go, Allyn Bulanadi, and Rey Suerte, all picked back in the 2019 PBA special draft.

"We can't play with five players, six if we include Jaydee [Tungcab], seven if we include Thirdy [Ravena]," said the veteran international coach.

Ravena skipped the PBA draft and signed with Japan's B.League, but he gave the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas his commitment to play for Gilas.

Tungcab, meanwhile, has been playing in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League after finishing his UAAP career.

Collegiate standouts such as Juan and Javi Gomez de Liaño of the University of the Philippines and Dwight Ramos of the Ateneo de Manila University previously bolstered the Gilas pool, but it remains to be seen if this is on the table for the FIBA qualifiers.

"There's nothing to say that we might be able to do that again amongst other players," Baldwin said.

Collegiate leagues remain suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, though authorities are currently developing guidelines for a resumption of amateur sports activities.

"We just can't make decisions now because we don't know exactly what the landscape is," Baldwin said.

The PBA is still waiting for the go-signal from the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to conduct the bubble.

FIBA, meanwhile, said its bubbles will be held in host cities selected on a regional level, subject to agreement of public health authorities. —MGP, GMA News