GILAS PILIPINAS : FINAL 12 FOR 2015 FIBA ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP NAMED

The final 12 members of Gilas Pilipinas that will try to get the ticket to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games has been named by Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas. The announcement came on the night of the deadline of the final team rosters for the event which will happen in 2 weeks time.

The Gilas pool has just came back from a silver medal finish from the 2015 Jones Cup in Taiwan and is now preparing for the inaugural 2015 MVP Cup which is their final preparation before the Asian Championship in China.

The final 12 players are Gilas 2.0 holdovers Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Gabe Norwood and Jayson Castro; veterans Asi Taulava and Dondon Hontiveros, Sonny Thoss, Matt Ganuelas, Gilas rookies JC Intal, Calvin Abueva and Terence Romeo and naturalized player Andray Blatche.

NBA sophomore Jordan Clarkson was initially in the list but has not yet been given the green light by FIBA to play as a natural born citizen is out of the final line up. There is also schedule conflicts due to the preparations for the upcoming NBA season. But kudos to Clarkson for expressing his interest to play for the flag and country.

Big thank you as well to the other players in the pool for not turning your backs to the flag's call - Gary David, Aldrech Ramos, Jimmy Alapag (who I think will be an assistant coach) and PBA rookies Troy Rosario and Moala Tautua.

GILAS PILIPINAS : 2015 JONES CUP SCHEDULE

Gilas Pilipinas is currently in Taiwan for the 2015 Jones Cup, after 2 year of absence in the tournament. This will serve as part of their preparation for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship that will take place late September in China.

The team will be missing the services of naturalized player Andray Blatche, who returned to the US to attend to his uncle's funeral and visit his sick mother. On the other hand, this will be the return of Marc Pingris to the team. Jordan Clarkson is also expected to watch the games, hopefully in preparation of him joining the team.

Here is the game schedule as posted in the Twitter account of Sports 5 :

Gilas Pilipinas' complete TV5 schedule for the 2015 Jones Cup campaign! Gilas fever is on! #LabanPilipinas #PUSO pic.twitter.com/eb0t2t8clg

— Sports5 (@Sports5PH) August 27, 2015