➤ As initially agreed upon, the nucleus of the team will have core players from PBA team Rain or Shine with the addition of some choice cagers from Coach Yeng Guiao.
➤ Gilas Pilipinas will have ROS players such as Maverick Ahinmisi, Raymund Almazan, Chris Tiu, Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood and James Yap.
➤ Other PBA players requested by Guiao include San Miguel’s Christian Stanhardinger, Magnolia’s Paul Lee, GlobalPort’s Stanley Pringle, TNT’s Don Trollano, NLEX’s Asi Taulava and BlackWater’s Poy Erram.
➤ Also for consideration were Gilas Cadet players Kobe Paras and Ricci Rivero.
➤ Only Ahinmisi, Erram, Trollano and Pringle are players who had not represented the national team as a Pro player. Pringle, however, was part of the recent FIBA 3 on 3 tournament.
➤ It will be a second national tour of duty for Chris Tiu who was a member of Rajko Toroman’s Smart Gilas in his amateur days. James Yap, meanwhile, will have another crack at an international cage tournament as he was also a member of Guiao’s 2009 FIBA Asia squad.
➤ Guiao will also be hard-pressed to better his 2009 FIBA Asia coaching stint after then Pilipinas Basketball team ended-up with a dismal 8th place in Tianjin.