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    Chot Reyes breaks down Gilas rotations and player choices in Fiba World Cup

    "The issue was not the lack of a legitimate point guard. The issue was lack of time together," Chot bares
    Sep 10, 2023
    jordan clarkson gilas dominican republic chot reyes
    Chot Reyes tells all on Gilas' player dilemmas and choices, addresses 'point guard problem'
    PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

    LESS than a week since his Gilas coaching exit, Chot Reyes discussed his pre-tournament player dilemmas, rotational choices at the 2023 Fiba World Cup, and the national team's so-called 'point guard problem.'

    READ: Chot admits Gilas' World Cup run a 'failure,' says Filipinos' disappointment is 'justified'

    Reyes bared details on Gilas' World Cup campaign in Kom Noli Eala's Power & Play program on Saturday.

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      Why did Gilas' final 12-man unit started training late?

      "While we had a very precise program and schedule, we wanted everyone in by July 25, ayun na. Unti-unti, we found out na (Jordan) Clarkson can only come in on Aug. 8. Then dapat si Kai (Sotto), tapos na yung NBA Summer League ng July 17 but he couldn’t come in because of his back problems. And of course, na-fracture ‘yung kamay ni Scottie (Thompson)," Reyes revealed.

      JOrdan Clarkson kai Sotto gilas

      But this was only the beginning of a series of unfortunate events for Gilas.

      "All of those things happened, and then in the midst of all that, on July 25 mismo, na-injure din si Justin Brownlee so ‘dun na nagpatong-patong. That’s where everything started to go south on us," Reyes said.

      "Much so that we had our first full World Cup practice on June 12 but na-kumpleto tayo with all 12 players, fully in practice, in uniform, healthy only on Aug. 18 nung kinalaban na natin ‘yung Cote d’Ivoire. And on Aug. 17, the practice day before that, hindi pa naka-practice si Kai because he had to undergo treatment for his lower back. That’s the problem."

      Why did Chot wait for JC, Kai, and Scottie rather than taking 'available players'?

      "Wala tayong choice kay Jordan because na-injure si Justin. For those who are saying that, would they have rather na pumasok tayo (sa World Cup) na wala si Clarkson?" Reyes posited.

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      "If I stuck to that first issue on availability, wala na si Justin Brownlee at ipagpipilitan natin ‘yung availability, lalaban tayo sa World Cup na wala si Clarkson. I think that would be a worse scenario," he asserted.

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      With Sotto, Chot says it was a matter of filling in the 'big man void' left by an ailing Poy Erram.

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      "On Kai, in the end, we also had Poy Erram. Pagbalik natin from Estonia, Poy Erram had to undergo a major knee surgery. That obviated another big man. We didn’t want to go into the World Cup with only three bigs: June Mar (Fajardo), Japeth (Aguilar), and AJ Edu only. Kasi ‘yung isa pa nating big, si Poy, nawala na rin," Reyes explained.

      "We also invited Carl Tamayo but he begged off, so naubusan tayo ng bigs eh. It was really a question of necessity more than anything," he also revealed.

      "Si Scottie was a different issue altogether because Scottie naman was with us from the start. He was with us sa Estonia. Na-injure lang siya, nakabalik siya, but he’s always been with us. He knows everything we’re doing and he was in every practice. For us, Scottie was available."

      Did Scottie underperform? Malonzo and Perez turned bench warmers? Limited minutes for Kai? Chot sets the record straight.

      Fans and critics didn't hold back on critizizing Gilas' rotation during the Fiba World Cup matches.

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      While Chot understands the public clamor on certain players being under-utilized, he did explain the challenges in making difficult compromises throughout the tournament.

      "I don’t think there’s any issue on the style of play. It’s just a matter of players who were able to come up at their best level. I agree that Scottie, we could’ve gotten more out of Scottie. But remember, he played really well when we played him against Dominican Republic," Chot said.

      "CJ (Perez), mahihirapan talaga si CJ with very limited playing time. The problem with that is in that position, you know Jordan Clarkson is there, ang ganda ng nilaro ni (Rhenz) Abando. I thought Roger (Pogoy) played really well. I thought June Mar (Fajardo) played really well. So there were players who were not from overseas who played really well," he added.

      Gilas Pilipinas

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      "I don’t think it’s a style of play (issue). It’s just that at the very particular point, (there were) a couple of issues. One is that their playing time was very usurp with Jordan Clarkson. And then with (Jamie) Malonzo in particular, Dwight (Ramos) was just playing at such a high level. The two positions where we could play Jamie was in Dwight and AJ’s positions, and those were the two guys who were playing their best so mahirap talaga," Chot asserted.

      "People are saying in game one sa Dominican (Republic), dapat daw naglaro nang mas matagal si Kai. My answer is, sino iuupo ko? Si AJ or si June Mar? That’s the issue. Should I sit AJ or June Mar or Dwight?"

      Does Gilas have a 'point guard problem?'

      Fellow ex-Gilas tactician Tab Baldwin underscored how there is no such thing as a 'point guard problem' in the country's World Cup squad.

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      Chot agrees.

      "The issue was not the lack of a legitimate point guard. The issue was lack of time together. ‘Yun talaga ‘yun," Chot said.

      "Basically two weeks with Jordan, ‘yun ‘yung pino-problema namin from the start. We knew we would struggle there and we knew we would have issues there. That’s why meron kaming mga ibang ginawang paraan to be able to mitigate that because we knew we were going to have offensive problems, execution and flow problems in the offense because of that lack," he pointed out.

      Gilas Pilipinas

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      "That’s why in spite of that, na kulelat tayo sa assists, assists to turnover ratio, turnovers, pero lumaban tayo sa lahat ng games. In every game, we were right there and we gave ourselves a chance to win," Chot stressed.

      "Can you imagine if we had at least one, maybe two more weeks with Jordan Clarkson? It would’ve made a really big difference."

      The story of Gilas' World Cup run, in two words

      "Life happened."

      At the end of it all, this is how Chot summarized the Fiba World Cup for Gilas.

      "I guess the best way to characterize this (World Cup) is that life happened. Ganun ang buhay natin ngayon, ‘di ba? It’s full of disruptions, full of uncertainty and unpredictability.

      And as Gilas moves on with interim mentor Tim Cone for the Asian Games, here's what Chot thinks about his former deputy.

      "I think Tim (Cone) has a good opportunity now to really do something in the Asian Games (Tim) asked me (about the coaching post). We talked about it. I was the number one person who was really convincing him to take the job and telling everybody, even in the SBP and PBA, that the best man for the job really is Tim," Chot said.

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      "I’m very, very glad that Tim has relented, changed his mind, and accepted it because now we put ourselves in a good position to really do well in the Asian Games."

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      Chot Reyes tells all on Gilas' player dilemmas and choices, addresses 'point guard problem'
      PHOTO: Jerome Ascano
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