MANILA, Philippines — Even with Kai Sotto back, Gilas Pilipinas still recognizes the need to widen its depth chart ahead of the next battles in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
For this, the Nationals brought in 6-foot-10 PBA rookie slotman Geo Chiu and WC veteran guard-small forward RR Pogoy to their training pool for the vital fourth-window matches against Jordan on Aug. 28 and Iran on Aug. 30.
Chiu and Pogoy are the new faces in the initial 20-man list submitted to the FIBA.
They join the holdovers from the Window 3 games – naturalized player Justin Brownlee, RJ Abarrientos, AJ Edu, June Mar Fajardo, Chris Newsome, Kevin Quiambao, Dwight Ramos, Carl Tamayo, Juan Gomez de Liaño, Troy Rosario and Justine Baltazar – as well as the comebacking Sotto, Scottie Thompson, Calvin Oftana and CJ Perez.
The 7-foot-3 Sotto is back in the fold after a nearly two-year absence due to an ACL injury and his NBA pursuit. Thompson, Oftana and Perez were out on injuries during the previous away gig against New Zealand and Australia.
Also in the pool but not expected to suit up are backup naturalized player Ange Kouame, Quentin Millora-Brown and Mike Phillips.
The entry of Chiu, who posted 13 double-digit rebounding outputs for Terrafirma so far, is seen as part of the transition with Fajardo set to retire from Gilas duties soon.
In 2019 and 2023 World Cupper Pogoy, Gilas got a dependable two-way player who’s known for both his elite perimeter shooting and tenacious shutdown defense.
Meanwhile, Gilas Women, coming off its 58-61 opening loss to host Mexico, looks for a quick rebound today against Canada in the FIBA Women’s Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Guadalajara.
Gilas Youth shoot for a Last-8 berth in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup against Syria today in India. A win will set the Philippine U18s up for a tiff against China.