Coach Chot has his work cut out for him in Cambodia.
Gilas Pilipinas is on a mission to reclaim basketball supremacy at the 32nd edition of the Southeast Asian Games. But the road to redemption got trickier as several big names have begged off from competing in the regional meet. Highly decorated big man June Mar Fajardo, recently crowned Governors’ Cup Finals MVP Mikey Williams, and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel high-flyer Jamie Malonzo are among the top guys who won’t be wearing the Gilas blue this May in Phnom, Penh.
Expressing concern over the national team’s unideal situation while preparing for the SEA Games is Gilas coach Chot Reyes.
“Those are huge losses to the team. It’s not only them. Roger Pogoy is not here. Japeth [Aguilar] is a question mark. Even Scottie [Thompson] is a question mark,” the veteran tactician told reporters in the media scrum during practice on Wednesday.
Not one to sugarcoat, Coach Chot even said that he’s being reminded of Gilas’ depleted roster, which ultimately lost the gold medal match to Indonesia in the Vietnam Games.
“Just like last year, we were practicing with a certain number of guys and then suddenly, Paul Lee couldn’t make it. Kevin Alas couldn’t make it. Japeth got injured in the finals. Hate to say it, but here we go again,” Reyes said.
Even so, Gilas isn’t going into the biennial sporting event with weak lineup. To fill the gap, guys like two-time Best Player of the Conference awardee Christian Standhardinger and one of the country’s most dynamic scorers in Cjay Perez have come to the fold.
“It’s going to be a huge challenge to get the gold medal back. We need to focus, and take it seriously, and hope for the best,” the big man known as “The Bulldozer” said.
“Mahirap na daan for us,” the San Miguel Beermen shooting guard echoed.
“And siyempre kulang sa tao. Malaki ang role nila sa Gilas talaga. So, nasa amin na ‘yun kung paano namin tatakpan ‘yung mga kulang.” He added.
All things considered, the team’s leader isn’t backing down from the challenge. He’s putting his head down, and will continue to move forward with everything he has.
“Instead of worrying, we’re just focused now on what we can do with the things in front of us, [which is] to hopefully put the best team out there,” the Gilas coach explained.