As logistical woes bogged Gilas preps, Chot says Clarkson ended up carrying the offense

(Second of a collection)

After stepping down as Gilas Pilipinas head coach, Chot Reyes made positive he would make clear simply how a lot he was accountable for a botched Fiba  World Cup marketing campaign.

There have been different lapses, he stated. However these lapses have been simply the floor of the story.

“I do know we must always’ve crushed Angola,” he informed the Inquirer on Wednesday. “I feel that was the actually large downside. We have been so centered on the Dominican Republic.”

It was in these two opening World Cup losses that one other key criticism of his teaching model got here to the fore: He put an excessive amount of of the offense on Jordan Clarkson’s again.

“Sure [that happened],” Reyes stated. “I admit, there have been instances when it actually appeared dangerous.”

“And that’s once more due to the shortage of [preparation]. When you assume again, we have been enjoying nicely in China, issues have been okay: The ball motion, the [movement of the] gamers. We have been already attending to that stage [that we wanted to be],” he added. “However all of us knew the way it was going to be when Jordan arrived. We had no thought how we might react [with] the best way [other teams would defend Clarkson].”

Reyes gamely took on the factors raised in opposition to him, but in addition took day trip to elucidate the behind-the-scenes issues that handcuffed him through the staff’s run to the worldwide basketball showcase.

The nationwide program, Reyes stated, appeared for tactics to fly Jordan Clarkson and Kai Sotto as early as doable, penciling July 25 as the perfect date for the staff to start working towards collectively. And when the logistical issues left the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) unable to take action, the staff tried to guide a flight to Los Angeles, the place Clarkson was based mostly, to carry the coaching to him.

“We tried to be those to fly to LA to coach with Jordan. However a number of us had no US visas and that’s not straightforward to get. Then we have been coming from Europe. And after we arrived, we surrendered our passports to course of our journey to China. So there have been so many logistical issues and although we needed to go to the US final week of July, we couldn’t do it,” Reyes stated.

The issues with Clarkson meant Justin Brownlee was constantly in play as an possibility for the naturalized participant’s spot. In reality, Reyes stated, Brownlee’s damage was a turning level for this system.

“The massive blow for us was the damage to Justin Brownlee,” Reyes stated. “That took away our flexibility. When he acquired injured, we have been nonetheless making an attempt to salvage the Jordan Clarkson state of affairs, to [either] get him in earlier or for us to go [to train with him in LA] earlier.

“And if we couldn’t [do either of that], a minimum of now we have Justin.”

Gilas additionally encountered the identical form of downside when it went to a pocket match in China, which prompted one other wave of delays. The staff was solely capable of apply at full energy—with Clarkson and Kai Sotto—on Aug. 18 at PhilSports Area.

And that spelled bother.

The champion coach additionally addressed insinuations that he was enjoying favorites along with his rotation, with critics declaring his reference to utilizing Kiefer Ravena. He stated there was a mistake there, however not the one he was getting bashed for.

“The error truly, particularly in opposition to the Dominican Republic, was we must always have performed Kiefer extra,” Reyes stated, referring to the massive second quarter that Ravena had and the way the previous Ateneo star now not performed within the second half.

‘Studying expertise’

On his penchant for utilizing “studying expertise” as a approach to soften pre-World Cup losses, he stated the training was evident in the best way the gamers carried out and the best way the staff performed.

“Didn’t they see how nicely Rhenz Abando [played]? Was Abando a product of magic, his sport simply enhancing? Isn’t that as a result of he discovered from our stint in Estonia?

AJ Edu. Did he simply come out of the woodwork? And Dwight Ramos, was he already that good? I feel all of those guys who have been enjoying nicely discovered from their expertise,” Reyes stated.

“That’s No. 1. Quantity two is that they’re saying I couldn’t win winnable video games. What do they need, that we get routed proper from the very begin? They’re attributing to me the truth that we can’t shut out video games. However they don’t seem to be attributing to me the truth that we’re shut in these video games within the first place.

“They known as me “Choke” Reyes. What’s the No. 1 requirement so that you can choke? It’s a must to be within the sport first. We have been in each sport. We put ourselves ready to win in each sport and I attribute that to the training that we had as a result of we knew how you can play [teams like] Italy.”

Reyes admitted that the World Cup stint was a failure, and has stepped apart to permit the SBP to recalibrate the nationwide program.

However he had all the time envisioned one thing big for Gilas Pilipinas.

“We knew it was going to be troublesome. However we have been assured as a result of we knew with the kind of preparation we have been going to have the most effective staff prepared through the World Cup,” he stated. “Clearly, we didn’t see the accidents and the issues with participant availabilities.”

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