Three Kapampangan cagers — Japeth Aguilar, Jayson Castro and Calvin Abueva – made it to the 12 man line-up to represent the Philippines in the upcoming Fiba Asia Cup 2017 slated in Lebanon on August 8-20.
The mix of cadets and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) veterans include Junemar Fajardo, Raymond Almazan, Terrence Romeo, Matther Wright, Jio Jalalon, RR Pogoy, Carl Bryan Cruz, Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger and returning Gabe Norwood.
Gilas National coach Chot Reyes posted the final line-up of Gilas Pilipinas in his Instagram post on July 25, 2017.
Coach Reyes foresees the reliability in the arc of three-point gunner Wright and Standhardinger who excelled in the recent Jones Cup in Taiwan.
Andray Blatche was not included in the list due to earlier reports of his reluctance to join the team because of the security issue in Lebanon which plays host to the FIBA Asia Cup 2017. -JPM