Kai Sotto (right) isn’t too intimidated by Lebanon’s recent run of success. —FIBA.BASKETBALL photo
With Jordan Clarkson in tow, coach Chot Reyes has the best collection of talent he has had since reassuming head coach duties of Gilas Pilipinas—perhaps ever.
Now it’s time to get all that talent to play cohesively.
“We’re still in the getting-to-know stage of how to play together. Hopefully, we can fast-track it,” Reyes told reporters late Monday night, just before the team boarded the flight to Beirut for a Fiba (International Basketball Federation) World Cup Asian Qualifiers duel against Lebanon.
The Nationals endured a 13-hour flight and arrived at the Lebanese capital at around noon time there. They will train and then cut one more player before taking on their old tormentors on their home turf at 9 p.m. on Thursday (2 a.m. Friday, Manila time).
Gilas Pilipinas, 2-2 in the qualifiers, will have its work cut out for it when it plays the Cedars, as the hosts have won five of its last six games in the chase for World Cup berths. Lebanon has also been on a six-game tear at home, whipping visitors by nearly 36 points a game.
That doesn’t faze the Nationals. Ask Kai Sotto.
‘All hungry’
“We’ll show them, how good we really are,” Sotto, the 7-foot-3 youngster who plays in Australia’s pro league, said. “It’s gonna be exciting to come back and show we belong on the top stage.”
“I know we’re all hungry. We have been through some challenges these past couple of games,” Sotto added.
A lot of the team’s confidence is anchored on having Clarkson as its naturalized player.
Clarkson, a past winner of the NBA’s Sixth Man trophy, pumps loads of talent into the squad and is eager to utilize every drop of it for the country. The Filipino-American guard has said that he is ready to help Gilas get no less than a victory.
“Just win,” he said of his expectations in the pair of games Gilas are scheduled to play this window. “Let’s get it.”
As far as the national federation is concerned, Gilas has been looking like a tightly-knit bunch since Clarkson joined the training camp last Saturday.
“He adapts very well and he can relate very much to the three senior coaches—Chot, Tim [Cone] and Jong [Uichico],” said Sonny Barrios, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas’ spokesperson.