CHICAGO - When Gilas Pilipinas Youth coach Josh Reyes meets with the Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas (SBP) hierarchy sometime this weekend, he's expected to slump into a hot seat.
Thank God, the chair is not electric, but it's one that vibrates violently and could dislodge Josh from his current position.
I hope not, because the idea of Josh losing his job is absurd.
In a piece penned last week by my friend and SPIN.ph colleague Snow Badua, an SBP insider revealed that "the calls for his ouster" have grown louder.
READ Gilas Youth coach Josh Reyes on the way out?
SBP will be wise to ignore a largely anonymous social media mob who hide behind fake accounts while targeting Josh simply because he is the son of Chot Reyes, arguably the most polarizing figure in Philippine basketball.
Hating on Chot is fashionable. Envy and jealousy never go out of style.
When Bongbong Marcos was elected president of the Philippines last May 2022, I thought we were done persecuting public figures for the alleged sins of their fathers.
I GUESS NOT.
Being the son of an immensely successful father has opened doors for Josh, but once the training wheels were let go, the younger Reyes soared on his devices.
Yes, his team bombed out in the U17 World Cup in Istanbul, Turkey last July and lost to Team USA, 141-45.
What's conveniently forgotten is the fact that our boys qualified for that World Cup after Reyes led them to a sterling effort in the Fiba U16 tournament in Doha, Qatar in 2022.
Also, the bloodletting in Turkey wasn't exclusive to us. The Americans hammered China by 84 points and New Zealand by 80. And lest you forget, our team's best player - Kiefer Alas - was sidelined by a knee injury.
The hand injury to Andy Gemao doomed our U18 Asia Cup campaign where Gilas Youth finished at 1-3 early this month in Amman, Jordan.
Two of the other countries in their Group went to the Final Four, a testament to the tough path the undermanned squad had to navigate.
BODY OF WORK.
Josh has achieved feats - a World Cup ticket and a fourth place finish is the U18 Asia Cup - no other youth coach in the history of our boys program has ever done.
Firing Josh is not the answer. Our youth program doesn't need a re-start; it needs a resurgence that will benefit from continuity.
If the SBP wants our boys to improve, it needs to provide the youth program with the best performance-enhancing commodity.
Money.
Josh runs a program that is extensively under-funded, tying his hands from recruiting valuable mixed-blood players that can reinforce our locals with size and length.
Heck, even Josh is fantastically underpaid, a morsel that doesn't come close to making up for all the vitriol coming his way, multiple sources told me.
I've spoken to six coaches - four in the PBA and 2 in the UAAP - who all endorsed Josh. These people know the difference between a set-play and a set-up.
The Josh Reyes bandwagon hasn't run out of fuel.
Keep him at his post, SBP.
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