Gilas Pilipinas Basketball

2012 has been a great year for Smart Gilas Pilipinas! 2012 started with Jong Uichico joining the Smart Gilas Coaching Staff as an Assistant Coach then in February, Coach Chot Reyes was named head coach to replace Coach Rajko Toroman.

In July 2012, Smart Gilas 2.0 had their first tournament and was coached by Jong Uichico, they played in the 2012 SEABA Tournament and was crowned champions led by Marcus Douthit, Alaska players LA Tenorio, Mac Baracael and Sonny Thoss and Chris Tiu who played his last tournament for Smart Gilas.

August 2012 was a great month for Smart Gilas as they were crowned Jones Cup 2012 Champions, the last time Philippines won the Jones Cup was in 1998. LA Tenorio was named Jones Cup Tournament MVP.

The 2012 FIBA Asia Cup was held in September, Smart Gilas came up short as we lost to Qatar in the battle for 3rd place and placed 4th.

In November, plans to make Javale McGee the next naturalized player for the country did not push through and the Smart Gilas Cadet pool was formed composed of amateur basketball players including Greg Slaughter, Kevin Alas and Fil-Am recruit Matt Ganuelas Rosser

Then in December 2012, Smart Gilas added another Fil-Am recruit, Justin Melton to beef up the Smart Gilas line-up, which only has 3 PBA players plus Marcus Douthit which will participate in 2 Invitational Tournaments in January 2013 in Hong Kong and Dubai!

Happy New Year and Keep on Supporting our Philippine National Basketball Team, Smart Gilas Pilipinas!