Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — “The Gilas program won’t be where it is now without his contributions,” said former Gilas captain Jimmy Alapag, referring to naturalized Filipino Marcus Douthit.
Multiple reports confirmed on Thursday (August 13) that Douthit is officially out of the national team program, and the Gilas hero paid homage to the 35-year-old reinforcement whose contributions go beyond basketball.
“It’s no secret what Marcus did for the program,” Alapag said of Douthit.
“The way he embraced the team he played for and the way he embraced what being a Filipino is, I think he was a great representative of that (being a Filipino).”
Related: Douthit to Filipinos: ‘Thank you for accepting me’
Douthit pretty much brought everything to Gilas, said Alapag. And he will definitely leave an indelible mark on the team he led to second place in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship.
“He set the bar high for Dray [Andray Blatche] and whoever might be coming in in the program in the future,” he said.
“He’ll be missed but hopefully we’ll be seeing him around.”
Now that “Kuya Marcus” is out, who will serve as the eldest brothers in the team?
“Asi (Taulava), Dondon (Hontiveros), and I, considering we’re the youngest here,” Alapag said in jocular fashion.
