By REYNALD MAGALLON
Jordan Clarkson is definitely not coming in short of confidence heading into the 2023 FIBA World Cup, now that he has already arrived in the country and is set to finally join the Gilas Pilipinas preparations.
The NBA star landed in Manila following a 15-hour long flight from Los Angeles aboard Philippine PR 103 and immediately expressed optimism about the Gilas chances in the World Cup.
“I think we got a good chance to do some things. Hopefully, we’d win some games,” Clarkson told members of the press who waited for his arrival on Tuesday morning, Aug. 8.
The same level of optimism is what Clarkson is also bringing in, not just for him, but also for the rest of the squad now that the pool is finally complete.
For Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes, Clarkson’s arrival is a huge shot in the arm for the Filipinos especially that much of its system expected to revolve around the former NBA sixth man of the year.
“It’s no secret that our offense is not as smooth and polished as we want it to be. A lot of that is because we’re building the offense around Jordan,” said Reyes in an interview with Carlo Pamintuan following the conclusion of its pocket tournament in China on Monday, Aug. 7.
“Just by having him here, hopefully, we can get the offense now to a better place, to a higher level, to a place which we were preparing these past months essentially. We were preparing so that it’s going to be an easy integration for us, for Jordan,” he added.
Although the Nationals did fairly well in China with a 3-1 record against Iran and Senegal, a glaring issue noticeable with their performance was their offense, which indeed, looked sloppy and, at times, stagnant during some stretches of their games.
Gilas, however, made up for the sputtering offense with a solid defensive stand anchored on their pesky guards in CJ Perez and Dwight Ramos and the towering presence of June Mar Fajardo and AJ Edu.
Gilas is scheduled to arrive Tuesday and is expected to plunge back into training on Wednesday, Aug. 9, leaving Reyes roughly three weeks to integrate Clarkson to the scheme of things before the Nationals’ first game against Dominican Republic on Aug. 25.