Chot Reyes: ‘We've got a team’

MANILA, Philippines – Chot Reyes is very comfortable with the thought that they’re going to war in the 27th FIBA Asia Championship with the kind of team he envisioned to have from the day he accepted the job as head coach of the Philippine national team.

As he texted from New Zealand, Reyes is confident he’s got “A TEAM.”

“This is ‘A TEAM,’ not a collection of PBA’s best players. That’s what we have now,” the Gilas Pilipinas head coach pointed out. “I’ve never wavered from the team I wanted to build.”

The Gilas Pilipinas coaching staff and officials believe they’ve got a band of brothers that would watch each other’s back, and each one committed to the team’s mission to send the country back to world stage in Spain next year.

Technically, Reyes sees the Final 12 that he named Thursday as “a quick, versatile team with great outside shooters.” 

Naturalized player Marcus Douthit, no doubt, is the team’s main foundation, manning the slot with his 6-foot-10 frame.

Junmar Fajardo, another 6-foot-10 behemoth, is the second-string center while 6-foot-9 Japeth Aguilar serves as an option both at center and forward spots.

Gary David, Jeff Chan and Larry Fonacier are pure gunners while Jayson Castro, LA Tenorio and Jimmy Alapag provide the team different looks at point guard spot.

Ranidel de Ocampo is to play a key role as a big forward who can knock in spot-up outside shots in the team’s dribble-drive motion offense.

Then there are Gabe Norwood and Marc Pingris whose primary assignment is to take on the likes of Samad Bahrami, Fadi El-Khatib and the other Asian hotshots. Norwood can also slide to point guard position, if necessary.

This team doesn’t lack Asian basketball experience with all but Pingris, Fajardo and Castro having been to continental competition.

Aguilar and Norwood are to see action in their third FIBA Asia Championships while Douthit, De Ocampo and Alapag are returning from their Wuhan meet tour of duty.

David, Chan, Fonacier, Norwood and Tenorio, together with Douthit and De Ocampo, have been part of the current Gilas program from last year.

With its Final 12, Gilas Pilipinas was to see action for the first time versus the Hawkes Bay Hawks in Napier, New Zealand last night.

Over in Taipei, Iran, led by veteran center Hamed Hadadi, point guard Mahdi Kamrani and Rouzbeh Arghavan, roared to a fifth straight win with a 60-55 drubbing of Japan Thursday.

South Korea bounced back from a close loss to Iran, whipping Jordan, 67-57, while USA outfought Egypt, 88-83, and Taipei A overcame the fierce challenge of Taipei B, 90-89.

Through six days of Jones Cup competition, Iran was in the lead at 5-0, followed by South Korea (5-1), Taipei A (4-1), USA (3-2), Egypt (3-3), Lebanon (2-3), Jordan (1-4), Taipei B (1-5) and Japan (0-5).