Looking at social media in the past few days, Filipino fans discussing about the 39th William Jones Cup in Taiwan had another constructive critism towards Gilas Pilipinas; this time regarding the team’s reinforcement, Mike Myers.
Some netizens back in the Philippines expressed their dismay over the 6-foot-9 American, who is originally TNT Katropa’s replacement import, after averaging just 8.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in their first two games.
“In my first couple of games, I was kinda rough,” admitted the 25-year-old.
But in the next two games, the New Jersey-native finally got his groove.
In Gilas’ victories over Chinese Taipei-B on Monday and Japan U-24 Tuesday, the Maryland-Eastern Shore product made his presence felt strongly, posting norms of 16.5 points and also 16.5 rebounds in those games.
And those performances, safe to say, are enough statement to silence the critics he has.
“I’m just coming in confident,” said Myers, who is currently averaging 11.75 markers and 12.75 caroms, after their 100-85 win over Japan where he scored 17 and grabbed 17 boards.
“I knew what I had to do to help my team win.”
Now that Myers has proven that he can rack up those numbers, all eyes are now on him, if he can pull it off it on a daily basis. However, Myers is still not satisfied with what he has been doing so far, that he still has a lot of work to do.
“Right now, I’m just a little mad about my free throws,” said Myers, who shot 5-of-14 from the free throw line against the Japanese Under-24 team.
“But the most important thing is that we [are winning]. And that’s all I’m worried about.”
