TO no one's surprise, Thirdy Ravena and Dwight Ramos were the absolute standouts for Gilas Pilipinas in 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers against India and New Zealand.
Gilas coach Chot Reyes agreed that it's a no brainer the two Japan B.League studs will be the cornerstones of the national team program in the lead-up to the 2023 World Cup which the country will co-host with Japan and Indonesia.
"Definitely. It's not only with their statistics and with their points, but in all aspects of leadership, their work ethic, the energy they bring to practices. [They possess] everything that’s important for leaders," he said.
Ravena spearheaded the attack as the Philippines split its games against India and the Tall Blacks, averaging 19.0 points, 3.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 3.0 steals in 29.4 minutes of action.
Ramos was a do-it-all wonder with his 17.5 points, 7.0 boards, 2.5 dimes, 2.0 steals, and 1.5 blocks in 27.6 minutes through the two games at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Lack of preparation
Yet as positive as the duo's performances were, Reyes also rued that things could have been better for Gilas had it got a lot more than just three weeks of preparation.
"It’s the preparation that is certainly very, very crucial. Like today, we still have a lot of things that we have to work on. The players are not yet familiar with each other and even me, this was my first time to ever coach Thirdy, Dwight, Ange [Kouame], and several other players in the team," he said.
Reyes answered the country's call in late-January when a slew of changes within the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) led to a a search for a coach to replace Tab Baldwin at the helm of the program.
From there, everything was just on a blitz as the concurrent TNT mentor went about the business of building the team and putting his system in place for the February window of the qualifiers - all in three weeks' time.
Reyes, though, is hopeful that Gilas won't be cramming as it moves forward in a loaded calendar for 2022.
Among those in the Gilas schedule are the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam come May, the third window of the qualifiers this June, the 2022 Fiba Asia Cup in Jakarta this July, and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
And if he gets the core of the team which he paraded inside the Big Dome, Reyes thinks that things can only get better from here.
"I think we will get better as time goes by. Certainly a lot of bright spots, a lot of things to build on, so we just have to put in the work," he said.
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