MANILA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - The Philippines will face Iran on 13 September with a few new players reinforcing their fourth window roster.

Familiar names like Gabe Norwood, Allein Malicsi, Christian Standhardinger and Raymond Almazan dot the Philippines roster for their Asian Qualifiers game against Team Melli, but some new ones have also been included and should make an immediate impact.

Norwood, Malicsi, Standhardinger and Almazan are all known to Asian basketball fans, having played either in the Asian Qualifiers or in last year's FIBA Asia Cup, while returnees to the national team include Beau Belga, JP Erram, Paul Lee and Asi Taulava, who all saw action in the Jakarta Asian Games 2018 last month.

The new players that many fans outside of the Philippines probably have never heard of are Alex Cabagnot, Ian Sangalang and Scottie Thompson. None of those players have ever seen action for the Philippines at a senior level FIBA competition, and this will be an interesting baptism of fire for them as they face arguably the biggest and deepest West Asian team.

An very intriguing addition is shooting guard Marcio Lassiter, who last played at the FIBA Asia Cup 2011, where the Filipinos finished fourth. Lassiter averaged 8.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game in that competition, and over the years, he has blossomed into the top shooting guard in the PBA. Now, he will return to the international stage and hope to carry the Philippines to a tough road win over Iran at the Azady Gym in Tehran.

 FIBA