Chot Reyes eyes European reinforcement for Gilas

National team head coach Chot Reyes during his media luncheon at Shangri-La Fort Wednesday. Photo by Marc Reyes

Chot Reyes is putting his coaching hat back on to steer Gilas Pilipinas and offhand said he’s looking at possibility of tapping a European naturalized player.

A seven-footer who can shoot threes and play along side Junemar Fajardo is what Reyes is looking for as Gilas braces for a busy 2017 schedule that includes SEABA, Southeast Asian Games.

He is set to meet PBA board on Thursday and then from there form a 25-man pool from which players may be tapped depending on the tournament.

“But Seaba is very important, we’ll make sure we win it even if we have to recall Andray (Blatche),” said Reyes in a media luncheon at Shangrila The Fort. Seaba, according to him, will be qualifying for Fiba Asia.

“We will form the best pool of players that will address the need to be competitive now while preparing for the future,” said Reyes. “Thus our 25-man pool of PBA and soon to be PBA players will also be augmented by two more naturalized players.”

Reyes said he’s not worried over dividing his time to Gilas and being president and CEO of TV5.

“I don’t believe in time management, it’s a controversial concept but I believe in energy management,” said Reyes who is also a life coach.

Reyes said the recent PBA Finals between Ginebra and Meralco saw TV5, Sports5.ph viewership to rise 2,000 percent.

TV5, according to him, has already signed a contract renewal for the next three years.