Toroman taps countryman as import for Champions Cup

With the FIBA Asia Champions Cup barely two weeks away from now, Smart-Gilas mentor Rajko Toroman has decided to tap his countryman, Serbian forward Milan Vucicevic, as the team’s temporary reinforcement in the strong tournament in Doha, Qatar. “We will try him out," said Smart-Gilas team manager Frankie Lim, who is currently in Los Angeles along with the squad, which is capping its international training in time for the tough nine-day tournament in the Middle East. The FIBA Asia Club Championship will be participated by crack club teams from Iran, Lebanon, South Korea, Kuwait, Jordan, Indonesia, India and United Arab Emirates. Last year, the national developmental pool players made it all the way to the quarterfinal round. Lim said they’re using this tournament as yardstick for the 6-foot-9 Vucicevic, who also had stints in the Cyprus, Oman, Ukraine, Greece and Poland leagues. All-Filipino in Asian Games? But Vucicevic’s inclusion may be a short gap measure for the national developmental team members. Toroman, who led Iran to the FIBA Asia Championship crown in 2007, earlier said that Smart-Gilas may be forced to play All-Filipino in the Asian Games in Guangzhou this November if ever they will not find an ideal reinforcement who will be naturalized. However, team is bound to get new recruits in Fil-foreign players Chris Lutz and Chris Banchero and most likely, former Philippine Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Kelly Williams. Lutz has agreed to play for the national team aspirants and will join the squad this month. But the Marshall University standout will not be able to join the squad in Qatar and will most likely make it to other international tournaments the team is scheduled to play, including the William Jones Cup and the Asiad.

“We’ll play All-Filipino in Guangzhou if we don’t find an import," said Toroman. Banchero, a Fil-Italian, 6-foot-1 guard played against the Smart-Gilas squad in a tune-up game in Las Vegas and finished with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists. But the biggest catch here is definitely Williams, the 6-foot-5, do-it-all player from Sta. Lucia Realty. Sta. Lucia board governor Buddy Encarnado had agreed to lend Williams to Smart-Gilas via a trade with the Talk N Text Tropang Texters in the PBA. Both camps have yet to resume talks, but sources within the league said the trade is bound to happen. Talk N Text and Smart-Gilas are just some of the teams being bankrolled by businessman/sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan. The other two teams are Ateneo in the UAAP and San Beda in the NCAA. Another good development for the national team aspirants is the vast improvement of 6-foot-10 center Greg Slaughter. “Since the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup in Jakarta last year when we finished fifth, Greg has improved a lot. He’s now our first option at center position," said Toroman. “If we don’t find an import, we’ll be ready with Greg," he added. – Rey Joble, GMANews.TV