Reyes goal: Steer Gilas PH to Tokyo Olympics berth

INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

What does Chot Reyes hope to achieve in his third tour of duty for Gilas Pilipinas? A stint in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Reyes, the president and CEO of TV5 who is making a comeback as national basketball coach, told journalists in a press conference yesterday that he will assume the role of Gilas Pilipinas coach for one Olympic cycle.

“So that (there’s) the Olympic qualifier on 2019 but I don’t know; if we screw up between now and then, I may not be here,” joked Reyes.

Reyes’ initial plans include a 25-man pool composed of PBA players and the current crop of Gilas cadets.

“So depending on which tournament (we will play in), we can pull different people out; we don’t have a hard and fast rule. It’s going to depend on a lot of things. No. 1, what is the competition. No. 2, how well are the players playing. And No. 3, the condition of the players as well.”

“The demands of the national team is very tough, physically taxing for the players. It’s unfair to the mother teams (if we only keep a 12-man team all year).”

Reyes said he’s looking at the possibility of naturalizing a European player, potentially a seven-footer who can shoot threes and play beside June Mar Fajardo.

“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.”

But first things first.

“The Seaba is very important and we’ll make sure we win it even if we have to recall Andray (Blatche),” said Reyes, referring to the Southeast Asian qualifier for the Fiba Asia.