While it’s a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation for Gilas Pilipinas, head coach Chot Reyes vows to push his players to give their all once the supposed lightly regarded SEABA tournament kicks off this Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
This was reiterated by Reyes during an interview with TEMPO after their Monday morning practice at the Meralco Gym in Ortigas.
The Nationals will open up their campaign against Myanmar this Friday then will next face Singapore on May 13 followed by Malaysia on the 14th.
After their rest day on the 15th, Gilas will battle Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia the next three days.
“I know people are saying it might be lopsided. Pero kapag lopsided na tinatalo tayo nagagalit sila. Kapag lopsided na mananalo tayo magagalit sila. Saan tayo lulugar?” said Reyes. “We just have to go out and we have to just play our best and get the job done.”
Only the champion team will get the lone slot allotted for this region in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup set to happen this August in Lebanon.
Meantime Reyes also played downed notions about his alleged beef with naturalized player Andray Blatche.
The 30-year-old Blatche twice delayed his scheduled flight to the Philippines as he requested a few more days to be with his girlfriend who recently gave birth to their son.
Blatche’s decision to stay in the United States did not sit well with Reyes who even threatened to take him out of the roster for the upcoming SEABA gig.
Apparently all’s well that ends well between the two as Blatche has joined the team’s scrimmages without any hassles since arriving Sunday morning.
“Parang hindi niyo naman ako kilala. Pag-aaral lang naman ang kailangan niya because he has played with the system before. We purposely kept things very simple para hindi na siya mahirapan na maka-assimilate,” added Reyes.
(DENNIS PRINCIPE)