mart Gilas still hot on clinching Kelly Williams

The power forward slot remains to be the weakest spot for Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas going into the Guangzhou Asian Games and the 2011 Fiba-Asia Championship.

To address the nagging problem, Serbian mentor Rajko Toroman has only one name in mind to fill it up: Kelly Williams.

“I guess you know the name I’ve been mentioning right from the start,” Toroman yesterday said.

“I didn’t change my opinion. We are weak inside and we have to improve. I’m still thinking about one player from the PBA who is good on position four, and it’s Kelly Williams.”

After a pair of successful trips in Australia and Serbia, Smart Gilas’ big men have shown tremendous improvement, especially on defense where 6-foot-11 Greg Slaughter and 6-foot-8 Jason Ballesteros thrive.

But the power forward slot remains to be its weakest spot with Mac Baracael proving to be too small, Japeth Aguilar quite inexperienced and Rabeh Al-Hussaini still injured.

The Serbian mentor said they could have opted to play those guys at the fourth spot, but none of them is as athletically-gifted and as matured as Williams, the 27-year-old, 6-foot-7 former PBA Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player for Sta. Lucia Realtors.

“We don’t have a solution. I feel we’re a little bit small on position four. Japeth is not yet experienced while Mac is too small. That’s the reason why I’m thinking about it.”

With the PBA still ongoing, Toroman and the Nationals have to wait before discussion on Williams’ possible transfer could be started. In its previous statement, the Realtors said they are open to the idea of lending Williams if it is “for the national cause.”

“But I don’t want to talk about it right now. The PBA is still ongoing. I don’t want to disrupt anything or anybody,” he said. “Maybe we’ll start talking before the Asian Games this November. Maybe he’s already okay by that time.”

Aside from Williams, Gilas is also expecting the inclusion of Filipino-American Chris Lutz and, possibly, Iowa State standout Jared Homan as its naturalization prospect.