THOMPSON RETURNS; SOTTO BACK SOON, TOO
Scottie Thompson has rejoined the Gilas Pilipinas’ ramp-up to the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) World Cup, and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) is hoping to bring Kai Sotto fully on board, finally putting an end to the training squad’s manpower woes as it enters the final days of coalescing.
“We are still working with Kai’s management group. Hopefully, all will be done by this week,” SBP deputy executive director and team manager Butch Antonio told the Inquirer on Monday afternoon, shortly after the team confirmed Thompson’s return to training the night before.
The do-it-all Ginebra guard and the Philippine Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player “practiced fully without restriction,” according to his club coach and Gilas deputy Tim Cone.
Thompson has been sprinting and hitting triples with ease in a Facebook clip shared by his wife a few days ago.
These developments come 10 days before the global showcase that the Philippines will be cohosting alongside Japan and Indonesia beginning on Aug. 25.
Thompson is coming back from a right-hand fracture that kept him from taking part in Gilas’ short stint in China, where it played and won against Senegal and Iran in a pocket tournament that national coach Chot Reyes used to simulate the group phase of the World Cup.
Sotto, meanwhile, has been limited to noncontact drills and shootarounds in the practices being held behind the closed doors of PhilSports
Arena in Pasig City, continuing to heed the advice of his management team, Wasserman, that he rest his back after hurting it during the NBA Summer League last month.
Clean bill of health
Sotto’s clean bill of health is the last thing standing in the way between Gilas and practicing in top gear with naturalized ace Jordan Clarkson—something that should be foremost now the basketball leaders as one of its rivals in the World Cup continues to build a head of steam heading into the big dance.
World No. 10 Italy, one of Gilas’ assignments in the group phase, has named its final roster on Monday. Simone Fontecchio, Clarkson’s teammate at Utah Jazz, will be leading The Blues who have been on 5-0 tear in their tuneup matches.
Fontecchio has been solid in those games, starring in a thrilling overtime win over Turkiye, in the nipping of Greece, and the 98-65 rout of Puerto Rico last Sunday.
The Italians also blew out China, the regional powerhouse that could very well stifle the Philippines as it tries to become the finest Asian team that will be awarded a slot into the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, next year.
The Philippines is also bunched with Angola and the Dominican Republic—two nations that are also projected to wield NBA-caliber talent in the games.
Gilas is scheduled to host No. 42 Ivory Coast, No. 18 Montenegro and No. 31 Mexico in a series of friendlies, days leading up to the quadrennial meet that tips off at Philippine Arena in Bulacan province.