Kobe Paras of the Philippines dunks over a Burmese defender in the preliminaries of men’s basketball tournament of the 29th Southeast Asian Games. The Philippines prevailed, 129-34.
This early, Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes has come up with the list of players who are being considering for the 2023 Fiba World Cup squad.
High-flying forward Kobe Paras, collegiate standouts Thirdy Ravena of Ateneo and CJ Perez of Lyceum, and high school prodigy Kai Sotto lead the list of young stars whom the decorated mentor touted as the future of Gilas.
“By no means final but for now #23for23 #💪🇵🇭❤️ #thefuture #playlouderin2023 #basketballiscominghome,” he tweeted on Friday morning.
By no means final but for now #23for23 #💪🇵🇭❤️ #thefuture #playlouderin2023 #basketballiscominghome pic.twitter.com/Iggk4gtnpR
— Chot Reyes (@coachot) January 5, 2018
Also included in the list are San Beda’s Robert Bolick, Javee Mocon, and Kemark Cariño, Ateneo’s Matt Nieto and Isaac Go, UP’s Paul Desiderio and Juan Gomez de Liaño, NU’s J-Jay Alejandro, Joshua Sinclair, and Carl Vincent Tamayo, Letran’s Jeo Ambohot, FEU’s Arvin Tolentino and Ken Tuffin, La Salle’s Abu Tratter, and Mapua’s Will Gozum.
Young guns making waves overseas namely Remy Martin of Arizona State, Dwight Ramos of California State Fullerton, AJ Edu of Llandovery College UK, and Troy Rike of Wake Forest were also named to Chot’s 23-man wishlist.
The inclusion of Paras, Ravena, Perez and Sotto, though, was no surprise given their accomplishments in their young careers.
Second-generation star Paras has already donned the national team colors as he was a part of the gold medal-winning squad this past 2017 SEA Games before he returned to school at Cal State Northridge.
Ravena was one of the anchors for the Blue Eagles’ championship this past UAAP Season 80, where he was named Finals MVP.
Perez, meanwhile, was the fulcrum for the resurgent Pirates who went 18-0 in the elimination phase of NCAA Season 93, en route to being named as the Most Valuable Player.
The 7-foot-2 Sotto, on the other hand, has long been seen as a future national team player due to his height, which he also backed up with the Rookie of the Year honors in UAAP Season 79.