Dickel ready if Indonesia game gets scrapped

Gilas Pilipinas coach Mark Dickel isn’t bothered the slightest bit over the possibility of another Fiba Asia Cup qualifying game postponement.

“There are bigger things going on around the world than our game,” he told reporters shortly after Friday’s training at Meralco Gym in Ortigas.

In fact, Dickel said that fans should be appreciative of the move, saying “governments are making decisions that they think are putting these citizens at the safest possible positions.”

Fiba on Friday morning announced that it will be moving Philippines’ hosting of Thailand to a later date. The home game was supposed to kick off Gilas’ campaign in the 24-nation tournament and was supposed to herald the start of the country’s march to the 2023 World Cup that will be held here.

“If the [other] game’s postponed, oh well, maybe we’d scale back with our practices,” he said. “Maybe one or two a week?”

And Dickel continues to look at postponements as a chance for the national pool to breed more cohesion and allow the coaching staff to better flesh out players’ roles.

“You get more time to really have everybody understand A, what their roles are, B, what is expected, and C, what they got to do out there,” the national coach said.

“Anytime you get more days to do that, the game’s gonna look better,” he added.

Gilas has been practicing daily since Feb. 6.

For now, Gilas is setting its sights on Indonesia, a team coached by its former mentor Rajko Toroman. The Filipinos shoot for a victory in Jakarta on Feb. 23.