Chot welcomes additional players for Gilas but…

Philippine men’s basketball coach Chot Reyes welcomes the idea of the PBA teams sending additional players to support the Gilas Pilipinas training pool, which in recent weeks, has been ravaged by injuries.

Reyes, however, admits the coaching staff is looking at that proposition with “conditions.”

Chot Reyes SBP PHOTO

“Remember if we add additional names to the pool, then we have to go back again and teach them again,” Reyes said in his interview with sports analyst Quinito Henson in his sports Youtube channel PlayitRight TV.

“We already had 22 practices in Lithuania so even if they (additional players) have been with us in the past, that’s still so much for you to catch up on and to learn, so that’s number one.”

The Gilas mentor also said that the team’s 16-day training camp in Europe has yielded a lot of positives in terms of team chemistry and bonding.

Bobby Ray Parks, Calvin Oftana and Roger Pogoy rejoined the pool when the team resumed practice on Thursday last week. Parks, Oftana and Pogoy are members of the 20-man pool but failed to join the team in Europe due to various injuries.

“Adding additional players, we’ll never say no, but at this point we have to take a look first,” Reyes said. “Like I said, we’re building something here. We have two weeks before (going to) China and we don’t want to keep stepping back and moving forward (or) we’re never going to be at a level where we want to be if we keep doing that (adding new players).”

Still, Reyes admitted prior to leaving for Europe, they were also toying with the idea of putting up a “select team” similar to what the USA Basketball did that could provide regular scrimmages with the Gilas team to keep the national players on their toes.

“Remember with USA Basketball, they also did that. They have a select team that normally scrimmages against the regular team, so that’s also part of our plans,” said Reyes.

“If that’s possible, we’d certainly welcome it because we need to continue playing competitive games against serious, tough competitions. It ‘s certainly an option.”

Dwight Ramos has also joined the practice sessions last week after getting the green light to play from injury.

Scottie Thompson, meanwhile, is currently nursing a metacarpal fracture on his shooting hand he incurred during practice in Lithuania.