Reyes contemplates Gilas-Pilipinas final line-up
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 20 Jun 2013
MANILA (PNA) -- The final composition of the Philippine basketball team to the coming 27th FIBA-Asia championship the country is hosting Aug. 1-11 will come from the 17-man national pool that underwent a two-week training in Lithuania.
Head coach Chot Reyes, who along with team manager Butch Antonio, headed the Gilas-Pilipinas delegation that attended training camp at played seven games at the Svyturio Arena facilities in Klaipeda City arrived Tuesday morning after completing what he termed a ?61-Day Trip to History,? announced that it is unlikely that he will be adding more personnel to the present pool because of time constraints.
?Yeah, as I told you before we left Manila, the final lineup might be decided after the trip. It, indeed, had,? Reyes, said hours after their arrival during a phone patch interview in the Kapartner Aksyon 1026 television-radio program aired over DZAR. ?In fact, except for one or two slots, alam na ng coaching staff kung sino ang masasama sa team.?
Reyes, who will be in his second coaching stint with the National Five in an Asian level tournament following his being at the helm in the 2007 Tokoshima sojourn, refused though to name those who made it outright except to say that the deadline for the submission of final entry is on July 15 yet.
?Matagal-tagal pa naman ang deadline, so between now and July 15, we still have time to assess and evaluate more the boys performance in Lithuania and how they responded to the grueling training camp,? the national mentor said.
Reyes assured that the boys, as expected, have gained much from their experience at the camp and from the games they played. ?Experience-wise, the boys are now richer, especially in playing against bigger, taller but fast teams in the European brand of plays.?
What Reyes described was the most significant achievement the trip gave was ?we were able to instill in them, patriotism and love of county. That we are doing all these, we are sacrificing away from our family for the county.?
?Of course yung haba ng pagsasama-sama namain, naging familiar kami sa isa?t-isa. We also succeeded in instilling camaraderie and friendship among members of the pool, who before the tryout started had been ?enemies.?
?To me, those were the more important things we gained in living together in one roof for two weeks,? Reyes assessed. ?Dati magkakalaban, ngayon magkakaibigan na. Sa linguwahe ng basketbol, nakakaamuyan na.?
?We got tired all. The camp was hard on everybody that when it ended we were all spent,? Reyes said.?But one thing I can say about the boys, kapag nagkasama-sama ang mga ito sa isang team, makikipagpatayan para sa bayan.?
?Reason why I don?t believe there?s more room to bloat the list further. Baka magbago pa ang takbo ng samahan at tuloy makasama pa,? he reasoned out.
Members of the national pool are Larry Fonacier, Jummy Alapag, Jason Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo, all of All Filipino champion Talk ?N Text; Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan and Beau Belga of Rain Or shine; Mark Pingirs of San Mig coffee, June Mar Fajardo of Petron, L.A. Tenorio of Barangay Ginebra, Gary David and Japeth Aguilar then of Barako Bull and now Ginebra and naturalized player Marcus Douthit.
Reyes said he has continuously been burning telephone lines since he and the boys arrived looking for some tough tune up games in the United States and elsewhere to look for the needed tune up games to make the team in competitive form.
?We really need quality games so the boys can gain more experience playing against quality opponents we expect to meet in the FIBA-Asia,? he explained.
Reyes has a series of games in Las Vegas against American college teams participating in the collegiate summer league in mind, but the absence of pre-season schedule might derail the plan.
?Okay sana sa Las Vegas, but the summer league schedule has yet to be finalized and we?re running out of time in our preparations,? he lamented,
Should the Las Vegas trip fails to materialize, Reyes said he?s looking forward to Australia and other Asian countries as option.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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