GILAS Pilipinas didn’t let everything get on the radar in Jordan Clarkson’s first official practice with the team.
Coach Chot Reyes and the rest of the national pool held a closed-door practice on Wednesday night at the Philsports Arena as the 31-year-old Clarkson finally joined Gilas in training for the FIBA World Cup.
The NBA star guard of the Utah Jazz took to the floor less than 48 hours upon arriving in the country from Los Angeles.
Curiously, Clarkson’s first practice came at the same time 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto also rejoined Gilas and participated in the shooting drills involving the bigs despite still nursing a back injury.
READ: Gilas Pilipinas finally complete as Kai Sotto joins practice
Only Scottie Thompson and Poy Erram were not around.
Aside from Clarkson and Sotto, also present were June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, AJ Edu, CJ Perez, Chris Newsome, Ray Parks Jr., Kiefer Ravena, Dwight Ramos, Thirdy Ravena, Calvin Oftana, Roger Pogoy, Jamie Malonzo, and Rhenz Abando.
It was the first time Gilas practiced with Clarkson and Sotto around after arriving from Guandong, China on Tuesday following its campaign in the Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament.
With the two integral pieces of Gilas already on board, coach Chot Reyes said the team’s focus now is geared towards integration and execution.
“In terms of game condition, game shape, and understanding of the pace and the kind of competition that we will be playing, which were the goals in this phase of the training, coming back from China, we’re going to now focus on integration and game planning na talaga,” said the national coach.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph