GILAS Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes does not believe in miracles, more so with the lack of preparation that spelled doom in his charges’ loss to New Zealand in the second window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers last month.
“To be very honest, when they appointed me, and when I accepted the job, I knew this was going to happen. We’re not miracle workers. If you give any coach a couple of weeks of preparation from a non-existing team to a competitive team it’s bound to happen,” Reyes said recently on Radyo5 92.3 News FM’s Power and Play program hosted by former PBA Commissioner Noli Eala.
“So, I expected it. Obviously, I’m disappointed, I would have wanted to have fought better, to make the game a lot closer. But ganoon talaga. Ganoon ang basketball,” he added.
The Filipino cagers ripped India 88-64 but fell to the Tall Blacks 63-88 to split their assignments in Group A of the February window.
While convinced his team could have given New Zealand fits, Reyes admitted they plunged into action as underdogs.
“I knew that we were going to give New Zealand and even South Korea if natuloy a tough battle,” Reyes said. “But I was also very realistic, and I wanted to manage everyone’s expectations not to expect any miracle.”
The sudden re-appointment of Reyes at the Gilas helm in lieu of erstwhile tactician Tab Baldwin also did not help the Nationals’ cause.
“I was appointed Feb. 1 and we started practice Feb. 7 pero hindi kami buo because the TNT guys remember we were playing in the PBA ‘di ba? We only practiced as a whole team after the last game of TNT on Feb. 18, we gave them Feb. 19 off,” he said.
“We started practices as a whole team on Feb. 20 and we played India on the 25h so we had five days of practice so as much as we wanted to fight, we knew it would be very difficult.”
Taking lessons to heart, Reyes has already submitted a 30-man wish list, a mix of PBA players and Gilas standouts, to Commissioner Willie Marcial for the 31st Southeast Asian Games in May in Vietnam.
The matter will be tackled in the PBA Board of Governors in its next regular board meeting.
Opting to field in collegiate standouts is unlikely since the 97th NCAA and 84th UAAP cage wars are set to kick off this month and will run up to May.
Aside from the SEA Games, Gilas is also set to do battle in the third window of the World Cup qualifiers from June 27 to July 5; the fourth window from August 22 to 30; the fifth window from November 7 to 15; and the sixth window from February 20 to 28, 2023.
As one of the hosts along with Japan and Indonesia, the Philippines already has a slot in the World Cup next year.
The team will also play in the Asia Cup in Indonesia from July 12 to 24; and the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from September 10 to 25.
