Lakers' Clarkson in the Philippine team lineup for Fiba-Asia Olympic Qualifying tourney

MANILA: Gilas Pilipinas has the best point guard it could possibly ask for.
Jordan Clarkson, a member of the NBA All-Rookie First Team with the Los Angeles Lakers last year, will – in all likelihood – suit up for the Philippines as a natural born Filipino in the Fiba-Asia Olympic Qualifying tournament in China next month.
The 6-foot-5 point guard arrived in the country on Monday night with a Philippine passport issued when he was 12 years old, which will satisfy one of the most stringest eligibility requirements the world cage authority Fiba has come up with in the last five years.
Fiba now requires players with dual citizenships to prove that they are citizens of another country by acquiring passports before they are 16.
This is the reason why Marcio Lassiter of San Miguel Beer, one of the PBA’s deadliest outside guns today, and Chris Lutz almost failed to play for the original Gilas Pilipinas team during the 2009 Fiba-Asia under Rajko Toroman.
Greg Slaughter has also not been considered to be a candidate for National duty because of this rule.
Clarkson has also apparently gotten the go-signal from the Lakers to play for another country, which could pave for the smooth road for the son of the former Annette Davis, a native of Angeles City in Pampanga, to don the Philippine tri-colors.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has yet to announce if Clarkson will be playing, but it did include the name of the 46th overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft as one of 24 in the pool to the Fiba from where the team that will play in China will come from.
Also listed in the lineup the SBP forwarded were Bobby Ray Parks, who is still in the United States trying to make the NBA, and June Mar Fajardo, LA Tenorio, Marcio Lassiter of the San Miguel group, and Paul Lee of Rain or Shine.
Clarkson blossomed into a legitimate NBA star in his rookie year last season after superstar Kobe Bryant sat out because of injuries.
Should Clarkson get the green light from the Fiba to play in China, Gilas will have two legitimate NBA talents in the line-up, the other being former Brooklyn Nets center Andray Blatche who is the country’s naturalized player.
The SBP is going all out and has in fact, arranged for Clarkson to fly to Taiwan on Sunday possibly to also play for the Philippines in the Jones Cup.
Should Clarkson join Blatche in the roster, the Philippines automatically becomes one of the teams to beat in Changsha, China, where the lone Asian berth to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics will be disputed.
Iran, China and South Korea are the other squads that are ranked highly, with the Iranians, led by the unflappable Hamed Haddadi and the flamboyant Nikka Bahrami, to come in as the defending champions.
Iran defeated Gilas in the 2013 Manila edition that staked two berths to the World Cup in Spain last year. But that year, Gilas was still reinforced by Marcus Douthit, who retired a couple of weeks back after Blatche returned to the country last Aug. 3.
Meanwhile, the much-talked about trade that would send Troy Rosario to Talk ‘N Text materialized on Tuesday after the approval of new commissioner Chito Narvasa.
Rosario, the former National University ace in the UAAP who is also a member of the Gilas pool, was picked second overall behind Moala Tautuaa by Mahindra (formerly KIA Motors) on Sunday.
Mahindra didn’t spend too much time dealing away the 6-foot-7 Rosario by sending him to the Tropang Texters for Kevin Alas and Rob Reyes.
Alas was then shipped to NLEX, a sister team of Talk ‘N Text, in exchange for KG Canaleta and Aldrech Ramos.
Another trade that was finalized on Tuesday was a deal involving Barangay Ginebra and Barako Bull which saw the Gin Kings acquiring Nico Salva and the Energy’s first round pick next year for virtually nothing.
Barako Bull took in under-sized point guards Eman Monfort, Jens Knuttel and Josh Urbiztondo and gave up Salva and more importantly, that Draft right which could turn out to be very valuable.