With all of the top leagues busy with their own tournaments, coach Norman Black is faced with limited options for his SEA Games team.
Forming a competitive men’s basketball team for the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, to be held in Thailand in December, is proving to be a logistical challenge for coach Norman Black, but he’s slowly getting there.
With the PBA declining to lend its players owing to the start of its 50th season and other leagues here and abroad also underway in December, Black has had to get creative.
“We’re getting there,” Black told The GAME in an exclusive interview during the PBA Rookie Combine. “It’s been a slow process. It’s been a challenge, mainly because a lot of the players who wanted to play were not given permission by their mother teams to join. So, I’ve been trying to lean on the guys who really wanted to play and who really can make it. So, we’re still in the process of trying to form a team.”
So far, the multi-titled coach says he has received commitments already.
“Right now, I have eight guys who have committed to a team already,” he said. “Justin Brownlee, Ange Kouame, Ray Parks, Matt Wright, Remy Martin, Dave Ildefonso, Jason Brickman, and VJ Pre.”
This is an intriguing lineup, to say the least, covering players from various leagues outside of the PBA. It must also be noted that these eight players have merely committed to joining the team. Some of them still need to officially get clearance.
After the hosts relaxed their eligibility rule to cover athletes who have at a minimum a passport, that paved the way for naturalized players Brownlee and Kouame to play together. Two of the players — Parks and Wright — are currently in the B.League, but according to Black, both said they could get permission from their mother teams.
“They said that they can do it. So, as far as I’m concerned, they told me they would be able to get permission. I’m not going to say that they still need permission. I’ll just go by their word.”
Ildefonso and Brickman are currently in the MPBL, and Brickman is scheduled to join the PBA draft, but getting them on board shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.
Pre is serving residency with the University of the Philippines, whose coach, Goldwin Monteverde, will be on Black’s staff, so his availability is pretty much certain.
The surprise name and wildcard here is Martin, the Fil-American guard who played for Arizona State and Kansas in the US NCAA and who has long expressed his willingness to suit up for Gilas Pilipinas. He has played professionally in Iceland, but he is coming off an Achilles heel injury, so his condition is a question mark as of now. But if he is healthy, he would be a solid backcourt addition.
As for the remaining four slots, Black says he hopes to fill them up with big men.
“I was hoping that we would be able to recruit some big guys. Because most of the guys that I’ve recruited so far, except for Ange Kouame, most of them are swingmen. Small forwards. Especially for Justin Brownlee, he can play power forward. I’d rather he play his natural position. And there are point guards. So, we really want to look for bigs.”
Black is hoping that the UAAP will ultimately make some of its players available.
“They have Mike Phillips. They have Kymani Ladi from Ateneo. Mason Amos. And of course, (Cedric) Manzano from Adamson.”
The UAAP will start its Season 88 men’s basketball tournament on September 21, with the finals expected to be finished by early December. The SEA Games will start on Dec. 9, but the men’s basketball tournament will kick off a few days earlier.
“Right now, we’re just hoping and praying that the UAAP will help us out and give us an opportunity to recruit those guys to play,” Black said. “I’m trying to complete the team now. But, like I said, it’s been a challenge. I can’t really commit guys until they commit themselves. So, beginning of September right now, we’ll work on it every single day until we get it done.”
The Philippines regained the SEA Games men’s gold medal in Cambodia two years ago after surrendering it in 2021 to Indonesia. The country has won the SEA Games gold medal in men’s basketball a record 19 times, including in 2011 with Black as the head coach.
Banner images from AFP and POC/PSC Media Pool