MARK Dickel is thrilled by the opportunity to coach the future of Philippine basketball in his stint as interim coach of Gilas Pilipinas in the Fiba Asia Cup 2021 Asian qualifiers.
Dickel said he looks forward to coaching a 24-man Gilas pool that is a mix of PBA, amateur, and collegiate standouts.
“Exciting,” said Dickel. “Obviously, a lot of experience there, having a lot of players that have played in the national team before. And then having a lot of players that we are looking at for 2023 to play on the national team.”
Dickel was referring to the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup which the country will be co-hosting. Gilas Pilipinas has an automatic slot and is expected to field a much-younger team.
“No problem with the pool. Super talented players. We got more than enough to play well. I’m just excited to get started,” said Dickel.
The pool includes PBA players Kiefer Ravena, CJ Perez, Christian Standhardinger, Japeth Aguilar, Marc Pingris, Poy Erram, Roger Pogoy, Troy Rosario, Mac Belo, Matthew Wright, and Ray Parks.
Isaac Go, Rey Suerte, Matt Nieto, Allyn Bulanadi, and Mike Nieto, selected in the special draft last year, are also part of the pool along withThirdy Ravena, Kobe Paras, Dave Ildefonso, Juan Gomez De Liano, Javi Gomez De Liano, Jaydee Tungcab, Justine Baltazar, and Dwight Ramos complete the 24-man pool.
Gilas is scheduled to begin its buildup for the two matches in the first window of the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers on Thursday. The Philippines faces Thailand on February 20 and Indonesia on February 23 with Dickel at the helm.
“It’s my second time being the national team coach,” said Dickel, who had a stint as coach of Albania. “The last time, I learned a lot. I’m sure in this situation, I’ll learn a lot again.”
With only weeks to go before the first match of the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers, Dickel assured he will put in place a system that will work well for the Gilas team.
“I think [the system] is determined by the players you pick. We will try to implement something that fits. Without practice starting or without getting too far ahead of myself, we are going to make sure that the style that we pick fits them,” said Dickel.
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