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Source: Joaquin Henson, philstar.com

-- If the PBA is rough sailing for Smart-Gilas, then coach Rajko Toroman’s national team is in for even stormier weather when it plays in the top-level Haarlem basketball tournament in Amsterdam Dec. 26-30.

SBP executive director Noli Eala said yesterday the Haarlem organizers are inviting Gilas to play against the Dutch national team, the Russian national developmental squad, the Brazilian national quintet, the Brazilian club champion and a team from the Americas. Gilas will represent Asia in the annual competition.

No doubt, Toroman’s reputation had a lot to do with the invitation. Toroman booked a ticket for Iran to play in the Beijing Olympics after winning the FIBA-Asia title in 2007.

“We’ll learn from this experience,” said Eala. “This is a high-quality tournament and a test for our players. We’ll be away from our families for Christmas and New Year’s Day so this is also a big sacrifice for the team.”

Eala said Gilas will be reinforced by guard Stanley Pringle of Penn State in Amsterdam. Pringle’s mother Elvira is Filipina and he is now playing as an import in Belgium.

“We invited Pringle to our tryout camp in Las Vegas last April but he couldn’t make it as he was in the middle of entertaining offers from the European leagues,” said Eala. “We just found out in his first game in Belgium, Pringle scored 11 points in 28 minutes. He’s playing in a top-caliber league so coach Rajko is impressed with his showing. Pringle will give us a lot of speed in the backcourt.”

Eala said Gilas is also headed for Dubai to play in an invitational tournament on Jan. 14-21. But even before Amsterdam, he said Gilas will play against a Lebanese club in Dubai on Dec. 4 during the United Arab Emirates national day celebrations. Gilas will be away for four days and Eala said he has already advised the PBA of the schedule.

After playing the 10 mandatory games against PBA teams in the Philippine Cup eliminations, Eala said it is likely Gilas will bow out of further competition to concentrate on foreign assignments.

“We could play more games against the eliminated PBA teams depending on their availability but I’m not sure if that would be productive both for us and the PBA since they would be no-bearing games,” said Eala. “We could just play practice games with the PBA anyway. So at the moment, we’re not inclined to play beyond our 10 games.”

Eala said he’s looking forward to Gilas bouncing back after losing three in a row in the Philippine Cup.

“We’re waiting for the end of the CESAFI finals,” he continued. “Greg Slaughter will be back with us from the University of Visayas after Oct. 31 and we’re hoping to also get Junmar Fajardo from the University of Cebu. Greg is 6-11 and Junmar is 6-10. Can you imagine our frontline with Japeth (Aguilar), C.J. Giles, Jason Ballesteros, Greg and Junmar?”

Eala said he is also trying to recruit University of the East hotshot Paul Lee.

“We’re talking with Paul, his family and coach Lawrence (Chongson),” said Eala. “We’re trying to convince Mr. Bong Tan and coach Lawrence that playing for Gilas will prepare Paul more for the next UAAP season than playing anywhere else. He can return to UE and rejoin us in time for the Asian Games in November next year. By then, we will already be playing Chris Lutz.”

Lutz, a Fil-Am sharpshooting guard from Marshall University, is playing out his US NCAA Division I eligibility this season and will start playing for Gilas in March.

“I don’t think our morale is down,” said Eala. “It’s just a combination of things. We’re mentally and physically tired. We’re committing a lot of turnovers and our shooting is off. We’re not establishing ourselves inside and we’ve been inconsistent driving the lane. Coach Rajko realizes he has to be harder on the guys. Look at what Chot (Reyes) did to us. We’ve practiced with Talk ‘N’ Text for a month so he knew all our plays. Preparing for the FIBA-Asia Championships is different from preparing for a long PBA season. That’s not an excuse for us but the reality. We’re making adjustments because we want to be competitive in the PBA, too.”

Eala said the transformation from playing in college to the PBA has been a struggle for several players, including UAAP MVP Dylan Ababou.

“We’ve talked to our guys about the adjustments,” said Eala. “Dylan, for instance, knows he’s got to step up and he’s committed to losing weight so he can be more flexible. It’s too bad we lost Rey Guevara who’s out for six months after undergoing a knee operation last week.”

Eala said Chris Tiu was ready to play against Ginebra last Friday but doctors advised more rest for his hamstring. Rabeh Al Hussaini, recovering from the flu, practiced only once before the Ginebra game and R.J. Jazul just rejoined Gilas starting with the game against Talk ‘N’ Text. “Moving players in and out has affected our rotation but we just have to work harder,” said Eala.