Chot Reyes and his staff have been scrambling to find big men for Gilas Pilipinas Men’s Southeast Asian Games team.
With the UAAP still ongoing by the time the Hanoi Games begin, bigs like Angelo Kouame and Geo Chiu of Ateneo, Justine Baltazar of La Salle, and Carl Tamayo of University of the Philippines won’t be available.
Ditto with Kai Sotto who will still be in the midst of his campaign with Adelaide in the National Basketball League by then.
Reyes rolled the dice on two key big men during his time with Gilas in the late 2010s — June Mar Fajardo and Japeth Aguilar.
Fortunately for the PBA’s only five-time Coach of the Year, he hit the jackpot.
“If you scan the horizon, there’s absolutely no big men available. The only ones left are in the PBA,” he said.
“When we asked June Mar and Japeth, the commissioner [Willie Marcial] himself ang tumawag sa kanila, and they were more than willing to join and participate. That made it easier for us.”
The last time Fajardo and Aguilar suited up for the national team was during the 2019 edition of the regional meet.
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Also forming the Gilas frontline are Mo Tautuaa of San Miguel, Isaac Go of Terrafirma, and the TNT duo of Poy Erram and Troy Rosario.
Reyes though stressed that the 16-man pool for the SEA Games is not technically the 30-man wishlist he sent to the PBA early this month.
After all, the 30-man pool he wants that would be rotated for the rest of the FIBA windows and the Asian Games is still a work in progress.
“Tuloy-tuloy ang pag-uusap namin ni Comm Willie. The answer to that is the calendar and schedules. For us, we have the deadline of tomorrow so we have to come up with this lineup first,” he said.
“It’s already a work in progress and we are thankful to the PBA board for the support and giving a helping hand. Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we can plot a more long-term plan,” he added with regards to the 30-man pool.
“For now, ito muna yung urgent and let’s see what happens.”
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