Gilas 5 departs for US today

MANILA, Philippines - Smart Gilas Pilipinas leaves today for the US for a series of games against American Basketball Association (ABA) teams in Los Angeles and three more matches in Las Vegas as it primes up for the 21st FIBA-Asia Champions Cup slated May 22-30 in Doha, Qatar.

“Smart Gilas is leaving tomorrow (today). The team will play with three ABA teams then go to Las Vegas to play three more matches then back to Manila,” said RP team manager Frankie Lim.

However, the Canada trip, which would have pitted the Filipinos in a pair of tune-up matches with the Canada West All-Star on May 4 and the No. 1 ranked Canadian team University of British Columbia the next day, was reportedly cancelled.

The US campaign might also be used as an opportunity for Smart Gilas’ Serbian coach Rajko Toroman to scout for a reinforcement who could be tapped as a naturalized player.

The team is still looking for an import who could fill in the void at the center position that Americans CJ Giles and Jamal Sampson vacated after the two were released for various reasons.

If Smart Gilas couldn’t find one soon, Toroman said they may be forced to tap Milan Vucicevic, a 25-year-old Serbian who is currently playing in Greece, Poland and Qatar for the Champions Cup.

The Los Angeles Slam, San Diego Surf, Riverside Rainmakers, Clayton Showtime or the Southern California ABA All-Stars are among the teams Smart Gilas will be playing in LA.

Efforts to get an import fell short after Michael Fey, Jared Homan, Dwayne Jones, Brian Butch and Earl Barron decided to suit up for other teams instead.

Fey detoured to China instead of going straight here in a tryout with Toroman while Homan, Jones, Butch and Barron ended up with the Bulgarian national team, the Phoenix Suns, the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks, respectively.