Another US player tries out for Smart Gilas

DOHA, Qatar — Smart-Gilas national team’s Serbian coach Rajko Toroman said Sunday that an American player who is currently in Russia will arrive in Manila this week to tryout for a slot in the team.

Marcus Douthit, a 6-foot-10 forward-center who played college ball at Providence, will be arriving on June 8.

His arrival was confirmed by his American agent to Toroman.

“We got some list from one agent. It’s good if she can give us Dwayne Jones, Earl Barron. But we’ll try with Douthit,” Toroman said.

Douthit was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers (56th overall) in the 2004 NBA Rookie Draft, the same draft class of Dwight Howard, Andre Iguodala, Jameer Nelson, and Jackson Vroman, the Lebanese-American who played for Mahram-Iran in the Champions Cup.

Douthit currently plays for the Krasnie Krilya Samara in Russia where he’s averaging only 8.3 points and 4.9 rebounds. In the recent Euro League, his numbers improved to 11.5 points and 7.6 rebounds.

Smart-Gilas import in the Champions Cup, 6-foot-10 Serbian Milan Vucicevic, has impressed the coaching staff with his work ethic and attitude, but his size and level of play will not be enough to help the national team in the Asian Games this year and the 2011 FIBA-Asia Championship, the qualifying event for the 2012 London Olympics.

“Milan is great guy, he’s a good player and he helped us a lot. Still, we need a really good rebounder, who can push us and better run on the court,” Toroman said.