PBA, Chot Reyes find middle ground to accommodate nationals

MANILA, Philippines – The Spain-bound Gilas Pilipinas will now be getting a full month and a half of training and preparations for the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain as well as for the Asian Games in South Korea.

The PBA announced Thursday, January 30 that it will be shortening its current season schedule to finish in mid July instead of the original August 13.

“The PBA board agreed to compress the schedule to finish at the earliest July 15 and at the latest July 22,” Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes told Rappler in a phone interview. “Upon which time the team can start practicing completely.”

The decision was made following a PBA board meeting attended by Reyes who presented his case to the board.

To shorten the schedule, the PBA will be compressing each of the finals series of the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup and season-ending Governors’ Cup to a best-of-5 series instead of the regular best-of-7.

It was a middle ground that both parties agreed on to help the cause of the national men’s basketball team who qualified for the World Cup by finishing second in last year’s FIBA Asia tournament.

Ideally, Reyes wanted to start training on the first of June but the extra month of preparation is very much welcome for him as well.

“It’s a lot better than the original which was middle of August. We were able to get one extra month. My ideal training time was June 1. But between August and July, July 15 is obviously a lot better.”

He added the PBA was on the same page as him in supporting the national team.

“They’re very accommodating,” he said. “They really want to help, they really want to support the nationals.“

As far as the kind of preparations his team will be doing for the World Cup, the long and arduous road will begin this weekend with the World Cup draw, where all 24 teams, including the 4 wildcards, will be grouped in brackets.

Once the Philippines’ group has been determined, Reyes will sit down with his coaching staff and begin the painstaking task of finalizing a line-up.

“I have to sit down first with my coaching staff. I have to take a look at the bracket, the group that we’re going to end up with next week when we draw in Barcelona and then we’re going to make a decision.“

There have also been reports that bills were filed to naturalize NBA bigmen JaVale McGee of the Denver Nuggets and Andray Blatche of the Brooklyn Nets. In an ESPN report, former Washington Wizards teammate McGee came to Blatche with the idea just a few days ago, and Blatche expressed his interest in playing for the Philippine national squad.

“I said I’m interested, so there’s a good chance of it happening,” Blatche told ESPN.

At present, Gilas has a naturalized player in Marcus Douthit who also played a key role in the team’s FIBA Asia run.

While waiting for the PBA season to end, Gilas will commence trainings once a week starting March 3 right after the ongoing Philippine Cup.

“Once a week practice starting on the first Monday of March. Every Monday,” Reyes said.

He also added that they are not eyeing to join any leagues as part of the team’s training prior to the World Cup. Instead, he hopes to set up tune-up matches when they arrive in Spain.

“The middle of July we’ll just look for tune-up matches in Spain when we get there. We haven’t been able to finalize things because ngayon ko pa lang nakuha yung final schedule from the PBA (I only now just got the final schedule from the PBA). So for now I’m going to come up with a schedule of matches.”

The FIBA World Cup will tip off on August 30 and will run until September 14. While the Asian Games will take place shortly after from September 19 to October 4 in Incheon, South Korea. – Rappler.com