No time to rest for the national team.
The FIBA World Cup Qualifiers are over, but Gilas Pilipinas isn't focusing on the main tournament just yet.
They have some unfinished things to settle in Cambodia, where the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games will be held.
"The only thing on our plate right now is when to call the guys into practice for the SEA Games on May 5," coach Chot Reyes said after the game against Jordan on Monday.
The Philippine men's national basketball team absorbed a lot of ire and criticisms from fans after Indonesia won the gold medal in Hanoi last year. That loss in the finals broke the Philippines' reign over the regional meet since 1991.
Reyes says he might consider calling the pool around the first or second week of April.
For now, all the players have literally no time to rest.
Most of them will be heading to Japan, as the TNT Tropang Giga and the San Miguel Beermen will compete in the EASL Champions Week. Dwight Ramos, Bobby Ray Parks Jr., Kiefer Ravena, Thirdy Ravena, and Jordan Heading will also return to their club teams in the Japan B.League.
The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel players will also be heading straight to practice with a PBA Governors' Cup game scheduled this Wednesday. Justin Brownlee, who scored a record-tying Gilas Pilipinas-high of 41 points against Jordan, could be suiting up once again for the national team, as the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas previously mentioned during his naturalization process.
One bright spot though is Gilas Pilipinas will have full time to prepare for both the SEA Games and the FIBA World Cup by April, as the PBA compressed its Governors' Cup schedule.
So while there are broad strokes for the FIBA World Cup, the finer details would have to be fleshed out.
"It is what it is," Reyes said, "So right now for the World Cup, wala pa muna until we find out about the draw."