GILAS Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes admitted the current situation of unavailability of players for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games is eerily similar to the previous edition of the biennial meet where the national squad lost the gold in Hanoi.
Chot on who are unavailable for Gilas
The Nationals have all of a sudden become depleted following injuries to June Mar Fajardo and Roger Pogoy, and Jamie Malonzo and Mikey Williams out of consideration due to prior family commitments.
Scottie Thompson and Japeth Aguilar are also questionable as Thompson’s wife is set to give birth around the time of the SEA Games, and Aguilar still hurt after sustaining an MCL injury in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Reyes said Gilas had a similar situation during the Hanoi SEA Games where several players were also unavailable, with the ending result being the Nationals placing just second to Indonesia in the men’s basketball tournament
“Just like last year,” Reyes recalled. “We were practicing with certain number of guys and then just before we left, all of a sudden, Bolick couldn’t make it, Kevin Alas couldn’t make it, Japeth got injured in the finals.”
“Hate to say it but here we go again,” Reyes added.
But Reyes said Gilas is doing its best to make do with what they have, focusing on who are present instead of who are not.
“We just have to deal with the cards that are dealt with us,” said Reyes.
Only 11 players showed up in Wednesday’s practice but Reyes assured that some of them will attend as practice continues on Thursday including naturalized player Justin Brownlee.
“Justin is going to be here tomorrow,” said Reyes.
Reyes said he understands the concern of the Filipino fans.
“Tama naman na mag-alala sila because that’s really a worry. I wish there is something that we can do about it. But there’s nothing we can do about. There’s nothing we can do about injuries. There’s nothing we can do about the personal circumstances of each player. There’s nothing we can do about the PBA finals that ended just last week. So instead of worrying those, we are focused on what we can do and things that are in front of us to hopefully put the best team out there,” said Reyes.
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