PH national basketball team seeks new coach

Chot Reyes AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is looking for a new national basketball coach after the team’s early exit at the Asian Games, despite Chot Reyes still being in the job, an official said Sunday.

Reyes, whose side failed to make the semi-finals in Incheon, South Korea, has not yet been formally removed.

But a search for a replacement will soon be launched, said Sonny Barrios, executive director of Basketball Federation of the Philippines (SBP).

“A Selection-Screening Committee has been formed to short list coaching candidates,” Barrios said in an SMS message to AFP.

“Chot may or may not be in the short list. (It) depends on the Committee,” he added.

He said that Reyes would continue to take the team until a successor is found.

The basketball-mad country’s national team finished seventh in the Asian Games in September.

The disappointment came just weeks after their first Fiba World Cup victory in decades.

Reyes took responsibility for the poor showing at Incheon, apologizing to a disappointed nation.

He had been harshly criticized for benching the team’s naturalized center, Marcus Douthit for a game for “disciplinary reasons.”

The national team is due to compete in the 2015 Fiba Asian Championships in China which will serve as the Asian qualifiers for the 2016 Olympics.

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