Chot Reyes with Ivory coast head coach Natxo Lezcano. From Reyes’ Twitter account.
MANILA, Philippines — If Smart Gilas Pilipinas gets a chance to battle African teams in a series of tune-ups, it will go a long way for the national team’s build-up for the Basketball World Cup.
And it seems like the wheels are already in motion as national team head coach Chot Reyes, who was in Abidjan, Ivory Coast earlier this week, tweeted a photo of him and Ivory Coast’s Spanish mentor Natxo Lezcano in a meeting.
“Nice [meeting with] Spanish Coach of Cote d’ Ivoire [Ivory Coast] Natxo Lezcano [to] arrange tuneup games for World Cup & possibly Asian Games,” said Reyes in a tweet (@coachot).
Reyes, not even a month after his squad’s historic conquest in the Fiba Asia Championships, is already back to work and has started scouting the opponents in the African qualifiers.
“Watching [the] Afro Basket games tells me 1 thing: This should be our next tune-up series: Tunisia, Angola, Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d ‘Ivoire (Ivory Coast),” Reyes said.
But Reyes admits that beating these teams might be a long shot, but doesn’t mean the national team won’t gain anything from the experience.
“We may lose all games to them now; but it will definitely help us, playing vs these quick, athletic & TALL teams. Morocco, Algeria, Egypt too,” Reyes also said.
The Philippines, along with South Korea and Iran, qualified to the Fiba World Cup next year in Madrid, Spain.
Host Ivory Coast, along with Senegal, Angola, and Egypt on Thursday barged into the semifinals of the Fiba Africa Championships, which also dangles three spots to the Worlds.
When asked how the Philippine team, which recently finished silver in the Fiba Asia Championships, would fare against their African counterparts, Reyes had an honest answer.
“Very slim vs Angola, slim vs [the] other 3, but at least [there’s a] chance,” Reyes said.