Reaching 2nd round a ‘real success’– Chot
AS far as Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes is concerned, reaching the second round of the 2023 FIBA World Cup will be a “real success” given the strong opposition when the tournament begins on August 25 in Manila.
“First of all, if we get one win, it’s going to be fantastic, but if we get two wins, that can make it a real success, and then we go to the second round,” Reyes said, during his guest appearance at the “Power and Play” sports program of former PBA commissioner Noli Eala.
“If we are able to do that, then our chances of qualifying for the (Paris) Olympics will increase that much greater. That’s our measure of success for the World Cup.”
Gilas will only start its World Cup preparation on June 7 when the national team resumes practice at the Meralco gym.
Reyes said he’s looking at an 18 to 19-member pool for the team’s allimportant preparation for the world basketball showpiece.
The Gilas pool’s huge buildup will include scrimmages games against the national teams of Estonia, Finland, the Lithuanian under-21 team and Latvia from the months of June through July.
“Then we will be back (in Manila) to train, and then another tournament in August in China, but that’s not final yet. We will make the final announcement once it’s finalized,” said the 59-year-old Reyes in the weekly sports program.
While some cage fans have wondered why he has not named the team’s final 12 this early, Reyes has his own reasons.
“Experience taught me it’s not the prudent thing to do because when they were asking for our final lineup or list two months ago (for the Southeast Asian Games), who’s a shoo-in, of course, we put (Roger) Pogoy there, Japeth (Aguilar), June Mar Fajardo, but they were all injured,” shared Reyes.
“Now it’s the same thing. We’re going to have scheduled tuneup games, training and preparations. If we only go there with our 12, we could go there with several (players) incapacitated because there’s always something that will happen,” he added.