The Ineligibles

Arguably one of the best Fil-Am talent
out there (he's in the NBA!)
but unfortunately, #FIBAineligible

With the local media trying its very best to squeeze any buzz out of Los Angeles Lakers' Filipino-American rookie Jordan Clarkson recent comments that he would "love to represent the Philippines," it should be noted that under current FIBA rules, he is ineligible to suit up for Gilas Pilipinas 3.0 or any version that comes after until that FIBA rule is amended.

Sorry to burst your bubble folks.

Just a few minutes ago, former Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes went on Twitter to post how simple it is for families living overseas who are seriously considering having their sons play for us:





Of course, this is easier said than done since this information is probably not passed on to every single Overseas-based Filipino family. Chances are, they'll only learn about this when their sons start making waves in the basketball scene (wherever they are) which is almost, always when it's too late (because we don't really see any 10-15 year old kids being scouted at such an early, under-developed age owing to all the logistics and financing needed for it).

Just imagine a possible line-up that we could've sent to FIBA, we're not even going to try and build an entire roster, just going to name five guys who would've helped our cause a lot:

PG Stanley Pringle
SG Sol Mercado
SF Jordan Clarkson
PF Joe DeVance
C Moala Tautuaa

Damn. Just damn.

But look on the bright side, there are a lot more Chinese-Americans out there (well duh) and for all things about the Chinese national basketball team not having a legitimate point guard, we're pretty damn sure that if they just opened their hearts and minds a little-- there are about a hundred (or thousand) Chinese-American ballers out there who could run the point just as well.