With focus solely on Gilas, Reyes eyes more learning

Gilas Pilipinas during the fifth window of the Fiba Asia World Cup qualifiers. Photo by Fiba

Much of Gilas Pilipinas’ preparations for the Basketball World Cup that will be hosted by the Philippines in August is from the blueprint of the cage program used in the campaign in 2014.

From assembling a coaching staff of proven veterans to looking at training camps abroad, this edition of the national team is really trying to replicate everything they did during their milestone performance at the tournament held in Seville, Spain.

And coach Chot Reyes, who will now be tasked to focus solely on Gilas, also wants to take a page from the old coaching playbook.

“The one thing I haven’t been able to do this time that I have done in the last World Cup preparations is watch,” he told the Inquirer recently.

“I was at the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) European Championship (EuroBasket) in Slovenia at the time. I was also in Ivory Coast for [AfroBasket]. I go around and learn,” he added.

The opportunity gave Reyes to see the game through a different lens, which ended up being integral in the historic 81-79 victory over Senegal in that edition of the World Cup.

Reyes would probably want to scout for the current squad, but his club duties with TNT have kept him at home.

“By the way [Fiba tournaments] designed, I just can’t do it [that before]. When they play, we play too [in the PBA],” he said. “I’m really looking for opportunities to learn, constantly doing it – watching the team and the coach personally.”

“[Basketball] keep growing and I’m … very hungry to keep growing and learning,” he added.

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