American CJ Giles, who became a thorn for the Philippines when he played for Al Riyad of Lebanon in the recent 21st FIBA-Asia Championship Cup in Doha, Qatar said he was keeping his options open when asked if he was willing to play for the Philippines again.Giles had briefly played for the Smart-Gilas team and was instrumental in the RP team’s fifth place finish last year in the FIBA-Asia meet in Jakarta.
But he was cut from the RP roster by Gilas coach Rajko Toroman reportedly because of attitude issues.
“We’ll talk to my agent and see what happens,” Giles, 24, said when reporters caught up with him at the Doha airport the other day.
Giles helped his Lebanese team to a third place finish in the FIBA-Asia meet where the Philippines was seventh among 10 teams. Against the Philippines, Lebanon won, 74-63.
A former player of the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA, Giles is remembered as the first import tapped for the all-amateur national team, which was formed July last year.
While he might consider returning to the national team if an offer is made, Giles said he’s also not shutting doors for opportunities to play in the NBA again.
“I got opportunities to play in the NBA Summer League. But I don’t know yet what will happen. I have to see when I get back to the United States.”
The Smart-Gilas is also weighing its options on Nigerian born player Olumide Oyedeji, who played for the Seattle Supersonics (now Oklahoma City Thunders) in the NBA and saw action for the Applied Sciences University (ASU) of Jordan in the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup.
Toroman and his coaching staff have been scouring the international basketball scene looking for players with potential to become naturalized players for Smart-Gilas.
Several are currently trying out but none so far has captured the eye of Toroman.
No comments:
Post a Comment