THE Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) did not impose a deadline for the search and selection committee to come up with a short list of candidates for the Gilas Pilipinas coaching job.
But for SBP Executive Director Sonny Barrios, he would want it sooner.
“There is no timetable but hopefully the soonest [time possible] because the first order here is to name the head coach,” Barrios said.
“We want the new head coach to have a free hand in naming the members of the pool so the PBA [Philippine Basketball Association] could make the necessary adjustments with its schedule,” he added.
The important task at hand is for Gilas to qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. But for the team to do that, it must win the Southeast Asia Basketball Association Championship in March or April next year to be able to compete in the Fiba Asia Championship, the qualifier for the Rio Olympics which is set in August in China.
Also on the table is the creation of another short list of candidates for the coaching job of the squad, popularly known as Sinag Pilipinas, that will vie in the Singapore Sea Games in June.
With the creation of the search and selection committee, Chot Reyes was technically dropped as Gilas coach. But Barrios said Reyes could still be part of the short list if the committee thinks he deserves another chance at steering the national team.
Barrios is a member of the committee along with SBP President Manuel V. Pangilinan and Chairman Ricky Vargas and PBA Commissioner Chito Salud, Board Chairman Patrick Gregorio and Vice Chairman Robert Non.
Online reports indicated Tad Baldwin, a former national coach of New Zealand who was one of Reyes assistants in the Fiba World Cup in Spain and 17th Asian Games in Incheon, is a shoo-in on the short list.
And Barrios short of confirmed Baldwin’s inclusion.
“He’s part of the mix,” Barrios said of Baldwin, who coached the Kiwis to a fourth-place finish in the 2002 World Championship.