GILAS Pilipinas’ readiness for the FIBA World Cup that kicks off 22 days from now will be put into a stern test.
The Nationals take on rival Iran today in the Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament at the Heyuan Sport Gymnasium in Guangzhou.
Game time is set at 8 p.m., with Gilas missing a slew of key players such as NBA standout Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz, big man Kai Sotto, and reigning PBA MVP Scottie Thompson.
“The team is feeling fine. We’re in good spirits,” Reyes said before the national team training pool left for China two days ago. “But as to where we are now, we’re far off from where we want to be.
“We hope that when everyone comes together and all the players are in, then we can make up (for) that discrepancy,” he added.
The 6-foot-5 Clarkson will be arriving from the United States on Aug. 8 instead of Aug. 6.
Sotto showed up in practice last Monday but only as a spectator. He is reportedly nursing a back injury.
The Philippine five clashes with Senegal on Friday with the action shifting over at the Jiangman En Ping Sport Gymnasium.
Gilas dropped its first two tune-up games against Estonia and Finland before traveling to Kaunas, where it won back-to-back matches against the Ukraine Under-20 squad and fell to a Lithuanian selection team.
Reyes’ charges are bracketed with the Dominican Republic, Italy, and Angola in Group A of the Aug. 25 to Sept. 10 blue ribbon world cage spectacle.
The team needs to finish at least in the top two at the end of the group stage to advance to the next round and boost its bid of becoming the best placed Asian squad to directly qualify for the Paris Olympics next year.
