Gilas 5 looks ahead to 2023

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

With a lot of height and youthfulness, Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes came up with a list of 23 names to make up the pool of players that will try to gain valuable experience when the country co-hosts the 2023 Fiba World Cup.

The exciting Kobe Paras, whom Reyes coached last year in the Jones Cup, the beanpole Kai Sotto and Filipino-Nigerian AJ Edu were the prominent names in the list which Reyes bared via his Twitter account @coachot on Friday morning.

Reyes said the list “is by no means final,” as he can still look to the Philippine Basketball Association for talents, with some of the Gilas regulars at this time still at the prime of their careers by 2023.

Thirdy Ravena, who helped Ateneo win the UAAP last year, Paul Desiderio, Matt Nieto, Robert Bolick, CJ Perez, Juan Gomez de Liaño, James Tuffin, Jeo Ambohot, JJay Alejandro, Joshua Sinclair, Arvin Tolentino, Javee Mocon, Isaac Go, Abu Tratter, Kenmark Cariño, Will Gozum, Carl Tamayo and Fil-foreigners Remy Martin, Troy Rike and Dwight Ramos rounded out the list.

At 5-foot-10, Nieto is the shortest in the group, with Sotto the tallest at 7-2 and the youngest at just 16 years old.

Martin, Rike and Ramos have yet to play on Philippine soil but are known to local fans through online videos.

The 6-foot Martin, a point guard, gained impressive scouting reports from ESPN with Arizona State.

Meanwhile, the names of the 15-man pool of players for Gilas Pilipinas that was released by Reyes on Thursday night had one name conspicuously missing.

Terrence Romeo will not be wearing red-white-and-blue for the next two games, at least, with his return to active playing a mystery even to his mother team, GlobalPort, in the PBA.

“I guess it’s become a serious knee injury,” a GlobalPort insider told the Inquirer.