DOHA, Qatar – Fil-Am Chris Lutz hopes to start out strong and make an impact right in his debut with Smart Gilas Pilipinas which opens its campaign in the 21st FIBA-Asia Champions Cup against Qatar Sunday at the Al Gharafa gym here.
“It’s really exciting, it’s definitely a great experience for me, playing for flag and country and in a different country,” said the 25-year-old Lutz, a former US NCAA Division I Marshall U standout.
But the 6-4 Lutz is expected to have his hands full against the taller Al Rayyan team, which kicked off its title drive with an 88-66 rout of Duhok of Iraq in Saturday’s start of the nine-day meet featuring the region’s top teams seeing action in this year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
Lutz’s presence is tipped to boost Team RP’s backcourt rotation following the sidelining of JV Casio, JR Cawaling and Fil-Am Marcio Lassiter due to injuries. He averaged 8.7 points, including an impressive .421 shooting clip from behind the arc, 1.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and a steal for the Thundering Herd in the recently concluded US NCAA season.
Casio, the best guard in last January’s Dubai Invitational where the Filipinos finished third, tore an MCL in Serbia. Cawaling is suffering from a swollen knee while Lassiter also injured his knee in an exhibition game in San Diego, California.
RP’s Serbian coach Rajko Toroman, however, admitted that it might take some time for Lutz to get into the groove.
“He’s just about 50-60 percent, he’s still struggling in the system but you can see in practice that he’s improving a lot. I think he can bring some energy,” said Toroman. “He is very quick, smart, can create plays for the other players and can see many things on the court.”
Lutz said he’s slowly but surely getting into the Toroman system.
“I still continue trying to get better, keep learning the system. I really like it because it utilizes everybody, good team basketball, it’s exciting to play in his system,” said Lutz.