DISAPPOINTING as Gilas Pilipinas' ninth-place finish in the 2022 Fiba Asia Cup was, a defiant coach Chot Reyes insisted that plans are already in place for the Philippines in the road to the 2023 Fiba World Cup.
"We already had a plan in place for the next window. We've put the plan together already all the way until August next year. We just have to execute," said the concurrent SBP program director after a horror campaign culminated in a 102-81 blowout at the hands of Japan on Tuesday night.
[See Gilas bows out of Fiba Asia Cup after woeful loss to Japan]
Under-fire ever since he assumed the post early this year from Tab Baldwin, Reyes stuck to his line that Gilas is just trying to roll with the punches and take everything as a learning opportunity for this young side -- an ethos he has oft repeated through the course of this tournament in Jakarta.
"We're operating under very difficult circumstances and a lot of restrictions, but we're making do with what we have and in the end, that's all we can do: to take what's in front of us, make do with what we have, and just continue plugging in and plugging away and hopefully, just develop and get better for next year," he said.
It wasn't really the redemption story Reyes envisioned, especially after the Philippines' bitter silver-medal finish behind Indonesia at the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi last May which is still fresh in the fans' mind.
Reyes admitted he feels the same level of disappointment with Gilas failing to make it to the quarterfinals of the Fiba Asia Cup for the first time since 2007 in Tokushima.
"Obviously, the result is not what we wanted. We're very sorry that we've disappointed a lot of our countrymen," he said.
This Gilas team, which Reyes pointed out is made up of Fiba Asia Cup debutants, were dealt bigger blows after naturalized center Ange Kouame suffered a partial ACL tear and top gun Dwight Ramos was ruled out by shin splints.
To him, the exposure that the players gained in this disappointing campaign will only prepare them for the bigger wars ahead.
"We brought a very young team here and the experience is just going to make them better to be able to be exposed to the kind of intensity and level of play at the Asian Cup," said Reyes.
"There is not one player in the team who has ever been to the Fiba Asia Cup and this is all their first time. We wish we could get to the top eight but we weren't able to get the job done. There's very little to say."
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