JORDAN Clarkson has been waiting for a long time to represent the Philippines in international competitions.
It wasn't until the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta where the Fil-Am NBA player finally got his chance to lead Gilas Pilipinas.
But believe it or not, it should've come four years earlier as Chot Reyes disclosed of what was supposed to be his grand plans for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
"You should see our list for the supposed to be 2014 Asian Games. We had a fantastic list," he told Coaches Unfiltered.
"We had Jordan Clarkson, Stephen Holt, (Mo) Tautuaa, (Christian) Standhardinger, (Jason) Brickman. We had all of those guys and that’s on our board. That was a fantastic list we put together because ang rule non sa Asian Games, pwede lahat."
Reyes, then the head coach for Gilas Pilipinas, had an extensive team in mind as he planned to gather some of the top Fil-foreigners for the said team with the Asian Games not necessarily adhering to the Fiba Asia rules for eligibility.
"In the Asian Games then, there was no requirement like the FIBA Asia, that as long as you have a Philippine passport, you can play. Ang rule noon sa Asian Games, pwede lahat," he said.
It was a dream scenario for Reyes and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) as it would've allowed it to see Clarkson, then suiting up for the Los Angeles Lakers, to finally don the national tri-colors.
However, the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee (IAGOC) had other plans as it told the federation that for the basketball competition, the Fiba rules will be implemented.
"After we arrived from the (2014 Fiba World Cup), we came back here and we got the word na hindi pwede and Korea is going to impose the Fiba Asia rules," he said, ending Reyes' lofty plans for the Asiad.
But that's not all as Andray Blatche was also prevented from playing by the IAGOC despite the Philippines gaining a favorable decision on its appeal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Fiba.
That forced Reyes to tap Marcus Douthit while also bringing in a banged-up core of the team which played in the 2014 World Cup in Spain.
"We have to suddenly activate Marcus out of reserve status. Eh ang tagal nang hindi naglalaro ni Marcus noon because after although he trained with us in the World Cup, when we were already in the tuneup games, the practice games, and the actual World Cup itself, and that must be almost a month, he was inactive. He was basically not competitive, so it was going to be very hard for him to get into playing shape and that’s where all that problem lay," he said.
"This was not the group of players who are supposed to play in the Asian Games because we knew that gulping gulpi na sila from the Worlds. Remember the kind of preparation we went through going into the World Cup was brutal. We went to Miami, we played in France, we played 10 to 12 games back-to-back, we toured Spain, we went to Guadalajara, we went to San Sebastian at ang dami naming pinuntahan even before getting to the World Cup in Seville."
Heck, even Jayson Castro, who was playing superb yet was feeling the effects of his injuries on his left knee and Achilles from the wear-and-tear of the Spain sojourn, had to beg off as Jared Dillinger replaced him in the roster.
Of course, everyone knows what happened after that.
Banged-up, Gilas Pilipinas stumbled in the continental meet, including an infamous own goal from Douthit in the quarterfinals in a desperate attempt to force overtime against Kazakhstan.
The Philippines finished at seventh place in that tourney and also spelled the end of Reyes' second tour of duty for the national team.
Yet who knows what would have happened had his original plan featuring Clarkson materialized?
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