Unlike the time when he had Andray Blatche as a player, Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes is not worried about the conditioning of Jordan Clarkson when he arrives on August 8—just 17 days before the FIBA Basketball World Cup commences.
After all, Reyes has been in constant communication with Clarkson himself since he committed to the national team a couple of weeks ago.
“Well, number one, he has been working out. We’ve been in constant communication—nag-uusap kami. We’re talking about offenses, concepts, and things. I’ve been messaging him about our plans, his role, and he has assured me that he’s in pretty good shape, working out, and working on his skills,” Reyes said on Power & Play with Kom. Noli Eala on Saturday.
“The number one thing I can expect is he’s in basketball shape. Maybe not yet in top game shape, but he will have a couple of weeks to get there, and as you know, for a player of that caliber, that should be enough in terms of basketball playing ability and game shape.”
Back in the mid to late 2010s, Blatche was an import in the Chinese Basketball Association and was no longer an NBA player when he was the naturalized player of Gilas.
On the other hand, Clarkson is still at the peak of his powers. In fact, he just averaged 20.8 points per game last NBA season.
“We’ve been exchanging thoughts and ideas, and he’s accepted it. Okay naman siya, and he knows what we want from him, and I think he’s up for the challenge. Alam mo naman ‘yun when you talk to someone, you can tell if a person is engaged pag kausap mo,” Reyes continued.
Meshing with the current pool of Gilas players won’t be a problem for Clarkson as well.
Back in Window 5, the 6-foot-5 guard of Utah was part of the Philippine team that went 1-1 against Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, respectively.
The only players he was not able to play with were June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Roger Pogoy, AJ Edu, and Rhenz Abando.
“The good thing is he’s not coming in cold, he’s been with us before and knows a little of what we’ve been doing, he knows the guys. Obviously, he still has to familiarize himself with some players na ngayon niya lang makakalaro,” Reyes said.
“But this is a world-class NBA player who averages 20 points in the NBA. So hopefully those concerns could be laid to rest.”
Currently, Gilas is in China for a pocket tourney.
The Philippines is currently 1-1 after beating Iran B before bowing to Senegal.
And it’s so far so good for Reyes.
“The good thing is we are moving forward from the start to today, we are seeing a better understanding of what we want to do, seeing some flashes of good offensive execution even without our number one offensive weapon here.
“Yun ang ating focus right now. We just want to keep the train coming forward,” he opined.
