Gilas has about three weeks left to whip up a competitive squad for the FIBA World Cup
Prior to Gilas Pilipinas leaving for China, coach Chot Reyes had already told reporters that Jordan Clarkson will not be joining the team there and will instead fly straight to Manila and arrive on August 8.
Gilas team manager Butch Antonio, though, said the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas is still working over time to bring Clarkson to China.
But now, it is official: Clarkson will be headed to Manila instead and will arrive here on August 8, like Reyes initially said.
Reyes, though, told Noli Eala on One PH's Power & Play that there was, indeed, a plan to have the Utah Jazz stalwart fly to China and have a mini-camp with Gilas there.
“He was supposed to come here and join us, and we were scheduled to play an additional game here and do a mini-camp,” Reyes said.
The plan, unfortunately, did not materialize.
“May problema sa visa from the US, and it appears hindi na aabot talaga kasi he has to go through additional steps,” Reyes clarified. “Hindi talaga aabot ‘yung papers niya.”
That means Clarkson and Gilas will meet up here in Manila on August 8 at the earliest and then figure things out from there.
“Didiretso nalang siya [Clarkson] d'yan,” Reyes added. “Magkikita-kita nalang kami sa Manila on August 8. Pag-uwi namin, Jordan will just meet us there in Manila. And then tuloy-tuloy na kami magpa-practice from the 9th moving forward.
Meaning, Gilas and Clarkson will have two weeks to get reacquainted—and maybe
reintegrate big man Kai Sotto back into the mix in the process.