Rounding out the Gilas 12

No Kelly? Bring in Arwind.

Kelly Williams. Jared Dillinger. Sonny Thoss.

Of the initial 15-man Gilas Pilipinas pool released by the Philippines' men's basketball team head coach Chot Reyes, only 12 remain standing. Not because they were the shoo-ins or favorites to make the spot, but because after potentially having what seemed to be the greatest frontline combination in the history of Philippine basketball Gilas finds itself short of three key players.

There's former PBA Most Valuable Player Kelly Williams whose rare combination of size, speed and athleticism on both ends of the floor make him the ideal partner for Gilas anchor Marcus Douthit as a weak side rebounder and help defender (Ranidel de Ocampo comes in more for offense). Unfortunately, Williams' battle with a rare blood disorder has put him on the sidelines (indefinitely we hope) so there's that.


Then there's Dillinger, a guy who can play positions 1 to 3 with relative ease plus a guy who can provide offense from almost anywhere on the floor. Defensively, he's improved under his PBA head coach Norman Black, but it's on offense where he was to be invaluable for the Gilas cause.  Lastly, Thoss will be bowing out from Gilas' campaign because of his injury concerns. While reports have it that he'll be back in time for the actual FIBA tournament, we doubt that he'll be ready to go right then and there. The lack of practice could also derail our hopes of a medal-finish.

Of the three, it's Williams who will be missed the most because of his versatility on the court. He can drop in threes from time to time as well so that's a big blow. Thoss has been excellent specially in the recently concluded PBA Commissioner's Cup, but fortunately we still have both Douthit and De Ocampo-- not to mention rookie Junemar Fajardo all able to fill in for the Alaska Aces' big man.

So now we go with the guys that are making the rounds as possible fill-ins (practice players or soon to be pool members, who knows?): Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot, Beau Belga, Chris Tiu, Paul Lee and Nino Canaleta.

There are other names out there, but so far it's been Santos and his FEU-Petron bossom buddy Denok Miranda who have shown up for practice.

We love that Santos is working with Gilas although we have absolutely no faith in his mother team if he'll be allowed to suit up. Although he's three inches shorter than Williams, he brings in championship experience and more tenacious (when his mind is in it) defensive and rebounding abilities. We don't know if Coach Chot will allow Santos, if he ever makes the line-up, to throw up his patented heat-check threes (God we hope not).

For Miranda, we doubt that he'll be called for Gilas duties. His lack of a consistent jumpshot keeps him from being in the mix of elite local point guards and it will be no different with Gilas. Still, he'll train our PG hopefuls to the hilt and will definitely toughen them up with his pesky defense. Jayson Castro Ryan Reyes, Jimmy Alapag and L.A. Tenorio will all have their hands full in trying to get away from Miranda which is pretty much how we want it.

At the moment, the line-up is starting to become clearer: L.A. Tenorio, Jayson Castro, Ryan Reyes, Jeffrei Chan, Gary David, Larry Fonacier, Gabe Norwood, Marc Pingris, Ranidel de Ocampo, Junemar Fajardo, Marcus Douthit.

It's a toss up between Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter right now, but if Santos can suit up, we'd stick him in there as the 12th guy in a heart beat.

Who's your Gilas 12?