On the right track for Gilas Pilipinas

Stop El-Khatib? Wright? Iranian's wings?
Keep calm and Pingris.

Author's note: Before anything and everything else, let us all take the time to thank Manny V. Pangilinan for all he has done for Philippine basketball. To put and push everything aside, and concede his own SMART brand (despite him having all the rights to put it there since it's his money that's the lifeblood of the team in the first place) if it meant that the other PBA owners would allow their employees to join the national cause-- that's just inspiring and something we should appreciate and laud. This isn't politics wherein you're not supposed to be branding this and that, he's the chief financial sponsor of a team that he put together with his money. He dresses them, feeds them and puts them in fancy hotels. He could have chosen not to, and he doesn't really need all the Silent War drama between Team SMC and his own Team MVP-- but he has done so (patiently at that) all for the glory of the sport that we have adopted as our own.

Mabuhay ka MVP! Wag ka lang tatakbong presidente, para hindi ka abusuhin ng iba.

Now that we can move on from the whole branding issue and have gotten the commitment of the other PBA owners in terms of assembling the best men's basketball team to represent the country in the coming FIBA-Asia qualifiers, here's a complete 15-man roster of who we believe should be part of the new and improved Gilas Pilipinas.


Point Guard
Jayson Castro/ Ryan Reyes/ JVee Casio
We love Jimmy Alapag and all, but anything he can do, these three can do- if not better (these days anyway given Alapag's age). Castro has proven to be quite unstoppable, Reyes provides you with the corner pocket threes and defense while Casio is the guy you go to in the clutch. We'd throw in L.A. Tenorio, but it's really a toss-up between him and Casio. We're going to stick with the Talk 'n' Text combo on this one just because they're big, strong and fast.

Shooting Guard
Larry Fonacier/ PJ Simon/ Jeffrei Chan/ Gary David
Kung dati dehado tayo sa shooter, putangina ngayon talo-talo na.

Small Forward
Arwind Santos/ Gabe Norwood
We want the Jones Cup version of Norwood, plus the old Arwind Santos who didn't care about the box score and just did whatever it took to win. Jared Dillinger would've also been nice since he could make plays for himself and others, but since we have a bunch of skinny shooters at the 2-spot, we'd go with defense at the 3.

Power Forward
Ranidel de Ocampo/ Kelly Williams/ Marc Pingris
Rani-Dirk for the crafty inside-outside offense, Williams' for the athleticism and Pingris for the hustle and swag. We'll be a bit short at the forward spot, but these guys will fight.

Center
Marcus Douthit/ Junemar Fajardo/ Yancy de Ocampo 
Greg Slaughter is too slow to play center right now for Gilas, so we're going with Fajardo and veteran de Ocampo. Something tells us that Yancy will cherish the opportunity to once again play for flag and country and give us a vintage, St. Francis of Assisi performance in a game or two. That, or his trademark elbows will leave the other Asian bigs with bloodied lips.

Who do you think should make the Gilas Pilipinas roster?