Smart-Gilas Pilipinas plans to skip its Europe training and instead play a series of exhibition games with an NBA selection in preparation for the FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan, China in September.
"We'll probably play an NBA selection but I don't know the composition of the team,'' said Gilas coach Rajko Toroman in a statement.
Team officials are reportedly coordinating with former NBA All-Star Chris Webber in an effort to bring in NBA MVP Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, scoring champion Kevin Durant of Oklahoma Thunder and rookie of the year Blake Griffin of the LA Clippers, among others.
The Nationals are supposed to train in Lisbon, Portugal and Istanbul, Turkey against European teams before going to the William Jones Cup in Taipei and the Asian championships in China.
Injuries
Toroman said injuries to some of the Nationals made them rethink their itinerary going to the FIBA Asia Championship, the qualifying meet to the 2012 London Olympics.
Marcio Lassiter was forced to return to Manila at the height of the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) tournament after experiencing back problems.
The 6’2” shooting guard collapsed during the team's practice in Jakarta on Wednesday.
“Marcio is one of our main players. But we have to win the [SEABA] championship even without him,'' said Toroman.
The Nationals have posted 2 straight wins over Malasya and host country Indonesia.
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