National team coach Chot Reyes said Gilas Pilipinas’ European camp is more than just picking up wins during their tune-up games.
The nationals racked up a second victory over the Ukraine Under-20 team over the weekend after playing four exhibition matches in Lithuania.
The tune-ups, he said, mean a lot for the players’ conditioning.
“Overall, I think the four games we’ve played have delivered what we expected. For us to be able to learn a lot about each other, to be able to learn what we need to work on, and get us into competitive shape while playing against quality competition,” Reyes told Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas’ Carlo Pamintuan in an interview.
He cited the fact that, heading to the camp, some of the key players were still recovering from injuries; thus, conditioning was suspect.
Now they are regaining their stamina, which will be crucial when they play in the much-anticipated FIBA World Cup 2023 starting this August.
“Little by little, we’re seeing now their legs coming back, their conditioning, and for me, that’s the most fundamental of all fundamentals, stamina and conditioning. That’s why we’re doing everything that we’re doing here, all the extra work, the loading, the lifting, conditioning stuff that we’re doing are precisely to get them to that level,” said Reyes.
“But we’re still a long way off. Like I said, we are not programmed to be at the top level at this point. This is still part of the learning process, getting our feet under us.”
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