Chot faces tough task of trimming Gilas pool

With less than three weeks left before Gilas Pilipinas’ 2023 FIBA World Cup debut game, national coach Chot Reyes faces the challenging task of trimming the current 20-man pool to the final 12 soon.

And admittedly, that would be one difficult job to do, considering the effort and work the players have put in, along with some of the injuries they had to deal with along the way.

Gilas Pilipinas FIBA PHOTO 

Looking back at the 2007 FIBA Asia Cup in Tokushima, China, Reyes, at the helm during that time, described the trimming of the team to the final 12 as the toughest.

“I remember in the 2007 in Tokushima, our final cuts were James Yap, RDO (Ranidel de Ocampo) and Tony dela Cruz. We have to make it to the final 12 and those were very, very tough cuts,” Reyes said in a video interview he had with former PBA commissioner Noli Eala in his Power and Play sports program last Saturday.

“We’re going to face the same (for the 2023 Gilas batch). It’s going to be very tough, it’s part of the job,” he added.

“I’ve always said, they have to fit the style of play that we want, then fit each other’s styles, and be really in top shape in terms of physical fitness,” explained Reyes, whose team is currently competing in the three-nation 2023 Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament in Guangdong, China.

“Those things are going to weigh just as importantly as being around for a long time for the group.”

Nonetheless, Reyes voiced his excitement with the World Cup challenge, knowing that he’ll be going to the biggest test of his basketball life with committed players.

“I’m very excited, to be very honest. I’m really dreading making the final cuts, because those are going to be very, very difficult decision but I’m very energized and impressed by spirit of the guys,” shared Reyes, who just last May, helped Gilas regain the Southeast Asian games men’s basketball gold by subduing a Cambodia team reinforced by several foreign players.

The nine-time PBA champion coach cited that the 13-man Gilas team campaigning in Heyuan endured a six-hour bus ride to the playing venue, rested a bit, before facing a tall, versatile Senegal five in the evening.

“And still, they (Gilas players) played Senegal with several 7 footers, a tough team, and I really saw the spirit and spunk of the team yesterday,” said Reyes.

“When you have players like that, it excites you and makes you look forward to what is yet to come.”

As of posting time, Gilas is playing Senegal in a rematch on Sunday evening, before closing the China tilt against Iran’s B Team on Monday night.