Still no confirmation from Fajardo, Lassiter for Gilas practice

MANILA, Philippines – Will Junmar Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter show up?

That’s the question as the new Gilas Pilipinas pool, composed of 17 PBA stars including the two San Miguel Beer stalwarts, starts its once-a-week training at 8 p.m. Monday at the Meralco Gym.

“I’ve tried calling and texting them, but they’ve yet to answer. The rest have confirmed they’re coming,” Gilas team manager Butch Antonio told The STAR.

“But I understand everybody has confirmed (acceptance of participation in the pool). I just don’t want to assume they’re coming, and I want to go through the protocol of talking to them one by one,” Antonio also said.

“We’ll ask (SMC official) Mr. Robert Non help in talking to Junmar and Marcio,” Antonio added.

Fajardo and Lassiter were both no-shows in the previous Gilas pool.

The new pool that includes Greg Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar, Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Troy Rosario, Ian Sanggalang, Calvin Abueva, Gabe Norwood, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Jeff Chan, Ryan Reyes, LA Tenorio, Jayson Castro, Paul Lee and Terrence Romeo will hold Monday practices through the first two conferences of the current PBA season.

They go through daily grind about a month before the Olympic world qualifier in a still unspecified venue.

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has just named Antonio, SBP vice chairman Ricky Vargas, executive director Sonny Barrios and coach Tab Baldwin as their counterpart group to the ad hoc committee that will oversee the Gilas training.

The PBA earlier named commissioner Chito Narvasa, Ginebra’s Alfrancis Chua, TNT’s Patrick Gregorio and Rain or Shine’s Mert Mondragon as their representatives to the group.

“We’ll set a meeting soon so that everybody's on board. I suppose we’ll lay down the plan for the buildup,” said Antonio.

Earlier, the Gilas coach said Team Phl will come out not just to compete, but to win games and grab what’s at stake in the Olympic world qualifier next year – an Olympic stint.

“We shouldn’t be in it just to compete. To make the mark in the world, you do that by winning, not by competing,” said Baldwin.

Baldwin feels Gilas has proven to the world that Team Phl can compete with the best of them in the last FIBA World Cup in Spain last year.

“We’re competitive in Spain. That’s the testament to what we can achieve, to what we can aspire. We can no longer settle for that. We’ve got to win,” said Baldwin.

“We want to achieve. We want to succeed. We want the gold. We have no other alternative,” Baldwin also said.

He feels it’s imperative for them to perform and deliver with all the support Team Phl has got now, especially the one from the PBA paving the way for the formation of a new Gilas pool.