ALLAN THE MAN

Gilas coach Chot Reyes said recently he’s open to make changes in the national team lineup. He declined to suggest names to invite to the pool in deference to the PBA Board of Governors whose clearance is required before any player is drafted.

The difficulty that Reyes faces is the limited training period before Gilas leaves to compete at the FIBA World Cup in Spain on Aug. 30-Sept. 14. It will only be between two to four weeks as the national team awaits the finish of the PBA season. 

GILAS coach Chot Reyes is very much aware of the clamor in cyberspace to have Barangay Ginebra 'Twin Towers' Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter in the team bound for the Fiba World Cup in Spain.

“Yes, I can see the messages of the fans. I can read it," the Gilas coach, a popular figure on Twitter with over 81,000 followers, told Spin. "They message me on different social networking sites."

The camps of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather deny talks the two boxers will fight in September.

Pacquiao's adviser Michael Koncz told ABS-CBN News neither he nor Pacquiao has made a categorical statement about the supposed fight.

A REMATCH between Gilas Pilipinas and Chinese Taipei in this year’s William Jones Cup basketball tournament won’t take place.

National coach Chot Reyes said lack of preparation time forced him to decline an invitation to return to the annual cage meet one year after Gilas was 'uninvited' by Taipei due to a diplomatic row.

National team coach Chot Reyes is hoping that the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the PBA teams will grant members of Gilas Pilipinas more practice time in preparation for the FIBA World Cup and the Asian Games.

The FIBA world Cup is set to take place from August 30 to September 14, while the Asian Games will take center stage from September 19 to October 4.

MANILA, Philippines – Russian brawler Ruslan Provodnikov has changed his tune regarding a potential fight with Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, as the “Siberian Rocky” now says that he is willing to face off against the former pound-for-pound king.

Provodnikov, the reigning WBO light-welterweight champion, initially turned down a fight against Pacquiao. Both fighters are trained by Hall-of-Famer Freddie Roach and have sparred together before.

But Provodnikov revealed to Boxing Scene that he has changed his mind after taking some time to think about what fighting Pacquiao will mean to his career.

THE possibility of becoming the odd man out in Gilas Pilipinas’ campaign in the 2014 Fiba-World Cup in Spain doesn’t faze Gary David once a bit.

While coach Chot Reyes would want to retain the exact 12-man roster of the national team for the world championship in August, he also didn’t discount the possibility of tinkering with the lineup by replacing a player or two before heading to Spain.

And following the struggle he had during the Fiba-Asia Men’s Championship, David’s name has constantly been brought up in different discussions, be it on social networking sites or in online forum.