DOUTHIT TAKING SMART GILAS-CHINA GAME VERY SERIOUSLY
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 12 Sep 2012
Naturalized American center Marcus Douthit who has been a tower of power for the Smart Gilas national team highlighted by his outstanding performance in the recent championship winning effort in the Jones Cup in Taipei is taking the FIBA Asia Cup which begins on September 14 in Tokyo very seriously.
Smart Gilas coach Chot Reyes who was scheduled to leave with the team for Tokyo at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday told the Manila Standard that Douthit ?Is good. He?s taking this thing very seriously and is taking the China game really seriously.?
The Philippines will face off against the Chinese squad powered by 18 year old seven-footer Wang Zhelin who has been touted, along with Zhou Qi to succeed China?s stalwarts Yao Ming and Wang ZhiZhi as the rising big men from Asia, in their first game on Friday.
Reyes said the good thing is that while the other members of the all-pro squad were practicing with their different PBA teams, Douthit wasn?t because he hasn?t a PBA team and ?basically all his energy and everything else is just for this tournament and that?s a positive.?
Asia Basket has described Douthit as a ?dominant low post force? even as it stressed that the Philippines ?will need every bit of Douthit?s imposing presence for a coveted Top Three finish in Tokyo.?
The report noted that Douthit averaged 16.9 points, 10.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in the recent Jones Cup, helping the Philippines to its first taste of international gold at this level in a long tine. He?ll need to produce at a consistent rate for coach Chot Reyes? team to really fulfill its potential.?
Reyes said ?to be honest we are not as prepared as Id like to because the players were practicing with their mother teams so they come to us in the evening really tired so we couldn?t put together real, good, strong, hard practices unlike before the Jones Cup when we had only two weeks but they were two weeks of good, hard practices.?
The head coach said ?now the most we can go is 45 minutes to one hour, we couldn?t really run and do a lot of the stuff that I want us to do.?
However, Reyes said we have two complete practices before playing China ?so hopefully we can catch up in those two days.?
The team practiced at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday and planned a workout in Tokyo on Thursday.
What worries Reyes is ?burnout? because he said the players had ? basically been going for almost two weeks now at two practices day and we?ll go two a day in Tokyo because we play in the evening and practice in the morning.?
Reyes remarked that the team was ?very good mentally and emotionally? because the recognition from President Benigno Aquino III at Malacanang and the Senate which is ?all very good morale boosters and is very good for our adrenalin. Hopefully all those things could make up for what I feel is our lack of quality practices.?
Discussing the absence of Sol Mercado because of a FIBA rule that prevents dual citizens who haven?t registered their intention before the age of 16 to play for a country, Reyes said ?the way Jared Dillinger is playing I think he can compensate for Sol who gave us a different dimension.?
He said ?we are looking at Dillinger and Pat Rosser to fill that role as LA Tenotio?s backup.?
Asia Basket singled out Guo Ailun, the well-known 19 year old prodigy who stars for the Lianoning Dinosaurs in the CBS and played four games in the 2012 London Olympics. The report said ?he?ll definitely be one of the key pieces of China?s young team in the FIBA-Asia Cup.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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