FIL-AM Jordan Clarkson, a bona fide NBA standout, could just opt to take it easy and ask for special treatment in his Gilas Pilipinas stint in the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
But the 6-foot-5 Utah Jazz star has shown otherwise and instead led by example among his teammates, according to nationals coach Chot Reyes.
“If I can make a comment, what we appreciate with JC besides what you see on the floor is his work ethic,” Reyes gushed.
“The behind the scenes, he always comes in early, never late, and never misses film sessions,” he added.
Reyes bared the ace naturalized player has a clause in his Gilas contract that he should not practice twice a day with the team, but Clarkson chose to ignore that.
“In fact, there’s a provision in his contract that he can’t do two practices a day, but he still went on and practiced when we had two practices. I think that’s very, very important for our team,” Reyes said. “He is just one of the guys, always with us and doesn’t excuse himself. That makes our jobs easier. That’s leadership.”
The Filipino cagers atoned for a sorry 81-85 loss to Lebanon six days ago in Beirut with a runaway 84-46 thumping of Saudi Arabia last Sunday night.
Gilas improved to 3-3 in Group E heading into the fifth window of the qualifiers in November.
The Philippines is already assured of a slot in next year’s World Cup as co-host of the cage spectacle with Japan and Indonesia.
Much maligned since he took over at the helm of Gilas from Tab Baldwin last February, Reyes said having Clarkson, a former Sixth Man of the Year winner, and prized 7-foot-3 big man Kai Sotto suiting up for the team is a plan in the pipeline for next year.
“When they awarded the hosting rights to us in 2017 our chairman MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) said, ‘Chot, you need to put up a list of players we can put for 2023.’ On top of our list was Jordan and Kai Sotto,” he said. “For us to have those two guys here, it’s huge.
That was five years ago and now we have it here. We are just completing the plan.”
