By REYNALD MAGALLON
Former Serbia head coach, now China mentor, Sasha Djordjevic, who once criticized Gilas Pilipinas for the lack of quality is now heaping praises to the national team.
Djordjevic was heavily criticized by Filipino fans during the 2019 World Cup in China after saying that the Filipino squad ‘lacked quality’ to compete in that edition of the global showpiece.
“I think you showed some balance and quickness but obviously you’re missing quality and these two games are the result of that,” Djordjevic said in 2019 after Serbia dealt Gilas a 108-62 beatdown.
“Two European top teams who know how to play tough, physical basketball. These are results to think about in the future,” he then added.
Time has changed and Djordjevic has also altered his views towards Gilas, this time, noting that the Nationals are now better equipped for the World Cup.
“They’ve built some athletic team, they’re putting on some size,” said Djordjevic, obviously referring to the Gilas frontline which boasts four towering big men in Japeth Aguilar, Kai Sotto, June Mar Fajardo and AJ Edu.
“Their rotation of the bigs and also with (Jordan) Clarkson, they have that needed talent with the ball that can resolve any kind of situation or any kind of, let’s say, tight games,” he added.
“This Philippine team is a team to respect,” he stressed.
Interestingly, Djordjevic’s China and Gilas Pilipinas could find themselves duking it out for the outright 2024 Paris Olympic games spot. China and Gilas are both looking to become the best placed Asian team in the tournament to claim the berth.
China, which now has Li Kaier (Kyle Anderson) as its naturalized player, is drawn in Group B along with Serbia, Puerto Rico and South Sudan.
The Chinese, bannered by Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin, open their tournament on Saturday, Aug. 26 against Serbia at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
