The Philippines is considered one of the top defensive teams during the qualifying stages of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.
Averaging 4.5 blocks per game, the Philippines is ahead Canada, Senegal and Greece, according to statistics released by FIBA.
With the current roster of big men in the Gilas roster, national coach Yeng Guiao said he is not keen on making too many changes in the current roster.
“Yes, we need some changes in terms of approach. We need to go big in the World Cup and to do that we need to make some changes,” said Guiao.
But adjustments will be changes in the rotation and not the roster.
“We have to convert someone like, say, a Troy Rosario, who is used to playing four his whole career, into a full-time winger. And we may need to ask Gabe to go back to being the point guard,” added Guiao.
Thirty-two teams have qualified to play in the tournament proper of te FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.
These teams have been distributed into eight pots of four teams each, based on the NIKE FIBA World Ranking.
As tournament hosts, China will be placed in Pot 1. They are joined there by number 1 team in the world, USA, #2 Spain and #3 France.
The 28 remaining teams owe their places in pots 2 through to 8 to their position in the ranking, with one exception.
A change has been made to avoid having two teams from the Americas in the same group.
The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, USA and Venezuela, will be drawn in Groups A, C, E and G. Canada will have been moved from Pot 5 to Pot 6, switching places with Iran, the best ranked team from that pot.
The four teams (Canada, Montenegro, Philippines, Korea) will feed into Groups B, D, F and H. Canada cannot be drawn in the same group as either Argentina or Brazil.
On the other hand, the Philippines and Korea cannot be placed in the group with Australia.
