GILAS Pilipinas Youth coach Josh Reyes is tempering expectations as he parades a new batch of youngsters in the 2022 Fiba Under-16 Asian Championship in Doha, Qatar.
"I'm cautiously optimistic, but really, until we play our first games there, that will be the real gauge," he told Spin.ph before the team leaves on Tuesday evening for the continental youth championship.
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Caelum Harris is expected to lead this new Gilas Youth crew which inevitably will be measured against the country's fourth-place finish in 2017 behind a team bannered by Kai Sotto.
Harris will be tasked to lead from the front when the Filipinos face off against Japan and Kuwait in Group C of pool play.
"Caelum will be there to back us up but he's not really a scorer. Caelum is there to do everything else in leading the team," the mentor said.
He won't have to do it all, Reyes added.
"There's no one person in general. It will be a team effort, but I'm looking at our two point guards in Jared Bahay and Lebron Nieto to basically lead our attack, control and be the floor generals out there. We also have shooters in Renzo Competente and Jacob Bayla."
Reyes also has high hopes for the rest of the squad given how they have performed in their tuneup games, saying, "Different players are stepping up so we don't have that one sure option. We have to build it, take it where will lead us, and see game-to-game who will have that advantage."
Completing the roster are Zain Mahmoud, Alex Konov, Andrei Gemao, Santi Romero, Jayden Jones, Basti Reyes, and Kristian Porter, with Joseph Pangilinan, Elijah Yusi, and Francis Veejay Pre serving as reserves.
Reyes said the formation of this team is a success in itself considering how long the team has been held at bay by the pandemic.
"Judging from where it started, we practically started from zero. So I'm happy with this pool that we were able to build," he said.
"So we're hopeful that we can compete and perform well because when we started this, we just wanted to jumpstart the program again after three years," the son and longtime assistant of Gilas coach Chot Reyes said.
"With how it turned out, with all investments in the past Batang Gilas iterations, we're able to form this. On paper, it looks formidable but when you see our opponents, matatangkad din ang kalaban natin."
The goal is to earn one of the four tickets to the 2022 Fiba Under-17 World Cup in Malaga, Spain this July 2 to 10, Reyes said.
"The goal is to qualify again for the World Cup and just really compete. And it's going to be tough because once we get there, our first two games are practically must wins right away. How prepared are our players for those high stakes? I think we're able to compete, but again, it's basketball and you have to play these games," said Reyes.
"We're just trying our best to augment that with two-a-day practices, tuneup games against older players and just trying to be the best prepared we are on the amount of time given."
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