Gilas in tough Group B with Argentina, Croatia, Greece, Puerto Rico and Senegal

The Gilas Pilipinas team joined 3rd ranked Argentina, #16 Croatia, #5 Greece,#17 Puerto Rico, and #41 Senegal in a tough Group B in the FIBA Basketball World Cup after the tournament draw early Tuesday morning.

The Philippine National team is currently ranked at #34 after the 2013 Continental Championships.

Gilas will play its preliminary round games at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo in Seville, one of four Spanish cities to host the first round of the tournament.

The Philippines, making its return in the world stage for the first time in four decades, will have to place in the top four of the group to qualify for the knockout stages. In the quarterfinals, it will be go up against qualifiers from Group A, which is composed of Brazil, Egypt, France, Iran, Spain, and Serbia.Group A matches will be played in Granada, Group C in Bilbao, and Group D in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

The round-of-16 and the quarterfinals will be played in Barcelona and Madrid, while the semifinals, the battle for third, and the finals will be played in the Spanish capital.

The draw is a big blow to the Gilas hope, considering how tough each teams in the group B is as the Nationals are only ahead of Senegal based on the rankings. 

But as we know, this is a World Championships so no teams are pushovers here even not so strong African teams have NBA players.

#3 Argentina will parade 4 NBA players in  Manu Ginobili, Spurs:  Carlos Delfino, Bucks: Knicks' Pablo Prigioni  and Luis Scola of the Pacers. But Delfino might not suit up because he is currently sideline with an injury. There is also a former NBA player who is playing overseas like Andres Nocioni and others. They might be available come August.

#5 Greece has only one NBA player in promising rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks. But there line-up will parade former players and draft picks in veteran Antonis Fotsis, who had a brief instinct with the Grizzlies and Vasileios SPANOULIS, a sweet shooting guard formerly of the Pacers. They also have two former draft picks who is currently playing in the Euro League in Georgios Printezes and Kostas Papanikalaou.

#16 Croatia has no current player but will rely heavily on former Raptor in Roko Ukic and Bojan Bogdanovic, a 31st overall selection in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Nets. 

#17 Puerto Rico will have two current NBA campaigners in JJ Barea of the Wolves and promising young man Moe Harkless of the Magic. But don't ever forget the heart of this team in former Piston' Carlos Arroyo plus the support of troubled Renaldo Balkman, a former Knick and is very popular in the Philippines for getting involved in trouble with Petron in the PBA. THe 6' 8 afro-haired Balkman is currently banned in the PBA.

#41 Senegal is the Lowest ranked in the group  but has an NBA player in rookie Gorgiu Dieng of the Wolves. He might not suit up, so they will rely on ex-pros Hamady N'diaye, Wizards, DeSagana Diop, Bobcats Pape Sy, Hawks and Saed Sene, Sonics.

After the draw expect each teams to prepare very hard and scout each teams in their  bracket and Each team will submit a final line-up. 

Gilas Pilipinas Preliminary Round Schedule in 2014 FIBA World Cup Aug 30 – Philippines vs Croatia 

• Aug 31 – Philippines vs Greece 
• Sep 1 – Philippines vs Argentina 
• Sep 3 – Philippines vs Puerto Rico 
• Sep 4 – Philippines vs Senegal 

FIBA Rankings after 2013 Continental Championships:

Rank	Country	IOC	Current Points	+/- Points*	+/- Rank*
1.	USA	USA	940.0	-12.0
2.	Spain	ESP	885.0	15.0
3.	Argentina	ARG	490.0	-8.0
4.	Lithuania	LTU	432.0	26.0
5.	Greece	GRE	376.0	-42.0
6.	Russia	RUS	353.0	-10.0
7.	Turkey	TUR	294.0	-8.0
8.	France	FRA	280.0	20.0
9.	Australia	AUS	234.0	0.0
10.	Brazil	BRA	222.0	-32.0
11.	Serbia	SRB	194.0	2.0
12.	China	CHN	188.9	-10.8
13.	Slovenia	SLO	158.0	1.0
14.	Germany	GER	144.0	-38.0
15.	Angola	ANG	143.0	0.0
16.	Croatia	CRO	137.0	3.0
17.	Puerto Rico	PUR	115.0	22.4
18.	Nigeria	NGR	109.0	-3.6
19.	New Zealand	NZL	102.0	0.0
20.	Islamic Republic of Iran	IRI	94.2	11.1
21.	Italy	ITA	73.0	1.0
22.	Great Britain	GBR	68.0	6.0
23.	Tunisia	TUN	65.6	-0.2
24.	Mexico	MEX	59.2	32.8
25.	Canada	CAN	49.0	2.4
26.	Dominican Republic	DOM	47.2	1.6
27.	Uruguay	URU	40.0	0.8
28.	Venezuela	VEN	36.2	-12.8
29.	Lebanon	LIB	35.4	-12.0
30.	Jordan	JOR	33.8	0.0
31.	Panama	PAN	30.6	-11.2
31.	Korea	KOR	30.6	4.5
33.	MKD	MKD	26.0	1.0
34.	Philippines	PHI	22.8	12.0
35.	Japan	JPN	22.6	-1.2
36.	Cote d'Ivoire	CIV	21.2	1.2
37.	Israel	ISR	21.0	-9.0
37.	Latvia	LAT	21.0	2.0
39.	Finland	FIN	20.0	10.0
40.	Poland	POL	19.0	1.0
41.	Senegal	SEN	18.2	-2.0
42.	Qatar	QAT	17.3	-5.1
43.	Cameroon	CMR	16.2	2.8
44.	Chinese Taipei	TPE	15.9	1.5
45.	Ukraine	UKR	15.0	7.0
46.	Egypt	EGY	14.4	8.0
46.	Paraguay	PAR	14.4	7.2
48.	Bulgaria	BUL	12.0	-6.0
48.	Czech Republic	CZE	12.0	6.0
50.	Belgium	BEL	11.0	10.0
50.	Portugal	POR	11.0	0.0
52.	Kazakhstan	KAZ	10.8	0.6
53.	Georgia	GEO	10.0	2.0
54.	Cape Verde	CPV	9.8	2.6
55.	Central African Republic	CAF	8.8	-1.6
55.	Jamaica	JAM	8.8
57.	Cuba	CUB	8.0	0.0
57.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	BIH	8.0	0.0
59.	Morocco	MAR	7.6	-0.4
60.	Virgin Islands	ISV	7.2	0.0
61.	India	IND	6.9	0.3
62.	Mali	MLI	6.6	-1.6
62.	Rwanda	RWA	6.6	1.8
64.	Sweden	SWE	6.0
65.	United Arab Emirates	UAE	5.7	0.0
66.	Mozambique	MOZ	5.4	0.0
66.	Syria	SYR	5.4	0.0
68.	Indonesia	INA	5.1	-1.5
69.	Hong Kong	HKG	4.5	1.5
70.	Kuwait	KUW	3.9	-1.8
71.	Malaysia	MAS	3.6	0.3
71.	Uzbekistan	UZB	3.6	-2.4
73.	Bahrain	BRN	3.3	2.1
74.	South Africa	RSA	3.0	-1.4
74.	Montenegro	MNE	3.0	2.0
76.	Kingdom of Saudi Arabia	KSA	1.8	-1.5
77.	Republic of Congo	CGO	1.6	1.0
77.	Libya	LBA	1.6	0.0
79.	Thailand	THA	1.5
80.	Algeria	ALG	1.4	-1.6
81.	Madagascar	MAD	1.2	0.0
82.	Sri Lanka	SRI	0.9	0.0
83.	Chad	CHA	0.8	0.0
83.	Dem.Rep. of Congo	COD	0.8	0.0
85.	Burkina Faso	BUR	0.6
85.	Liberia	LBR	0.6	0.0
85.	Togo	TOG	0.6	0.0

--- Jay-R U. Bayon-on