Gilas cuts Monday practice short

Without coach Tab Baldwin, Gilas Pilipinas had to make do with only eight players in uniform and cut the practice session short Monday at Meralco Gym.
Calvin Abueva, LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, Mo Tautuaa, Troy Rosario, and Ryan Reyes, alongside cadets Kiefer Ravena and Kevin Ferrer, took part in the half-court drills manned by Gilas assistant coach Josh Reyes in the session.
Gilas deputy Jong Uichico explained the decision to shorten the session, saying, “We only had eight players and there are players na either may laro kagabi or may laro bukas. We did what we could do.”
Ranidel de Ocampo, Jayson Castro, Terrence Romeo, Marc Pingris, Gabe Norwood, Paul Lee, Jeff Chan, and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser were also in attendance but were in street clothes.
Despite the brief session, Uichico said that the team has accomplished the things Baldwin wanted from the crew.
“We tried to keep it short as we can na may ginagawa naman kami na mapapagod din sila,” he said. “Coach Tab told us to run our attacks and swing, but we decided to run the attack na lang kasi mas kumportable kami na ituro yun.”
Baldwin left for the United States on Friday to tend to his family in Florida. His brother Terry died on Sunday (Monday Manila time), and he is expected to miss at least two Monday practices.
Despite the head coach’s absence, Uichico believes that these short inputs should go a long way when the team finally goes on daily practices on May.
“Paunti-unti naman. We’re trying to input a little bit of the system every Monday. Sana, pagdating ng everyday practices, di na kami babalik masyado sa simula if they grasp those things we run sa Monday practices. Hopefully, makuha nila through either muscle or mental memory,” he said.
“We try to do different things everyday para umuusad din kami at hindi na pabalik-balik,” continued Uichico. “At least, we touched on some things which are more specific in the dribble-drive system.”