Coach Chot Reyes apparently had mixed feelings while he and his coaching staff came up with the final composition of Gilas Pilipinas for the FIBA World Cup.
It was now clear who would represent the country on basketball’s biggest stage. But on the other hand, it meant cutting off some of the players who also dedicated themselves to Gilas’ training.
“I’d like to call it ‘the deepest cut,’” said Reyes at Thursday’s FIBA press conference.
“(It’s) really difficult. Some guys, we had to cut who was there from Day One. Three days ago, I was very subdued after practice because I told them that the coaching staff is about to make a tough decision. But it falls on me to deliver the news.”
Making up the final 12 are NBA star Jordan Clarkson, big men June Mar Fajardo, AJ Edu, Kai Sotto, and Japeth Aguilar, PBA players Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo, Roger Pogoy, and CJ Perez, and overseas campaigners Dwight Ramos, Kiefer Ravena, and Rhenz Abando.
This meant that they had to let go of Japan B-Leaguers Thirdy Ravena and Ray Parks Jr., TNT’s Calvin Oftana, and Meralco’s Chris Newsome.
“Like I told them, it’s not because of anything they did wrong or deficiency on their part. It’s just that we had to make a choice,” said Reyes.
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