Gilas Pilipinas may have just worked out for three straight days — and a total of six hours — this Holy Week, but head coach Chot Reyes feels already fulfilled with the way their practices went despite the limited time frame.
“I think we had a lot of things done. Maraming na-accomplish,” proudly shared the 53-year-old tactician shortly after the Nationals’ practice at the Meralco Gym in Pasig City Wednesday evening.
“Iba talaga ‘pag tuloy-tuloy eh. Nakaka-build kami very efficiently ng mga gusto naming gawin. As I’ve said, marami kaming nagawa.”
One solid testament to Reyes’ claims of the team being able to maximize the three-day session is the beginning of scrimmages in practices, which already started Tuesday night.
“It’s part of the process,” said Reyes.
“What we’ve seen is how much work we need to work on offense and defense. We need to work a lot since we haven’t done any defense at all. Nire-reserve namin yan next week ‘pag everyday na.”
Gilas only had 12 players in attendance for the night due to the other players’ PBA commitments, but Reyes was satisfied with what he saw from the players who suited up — led by veterans Calvin Abueva, Japeth Aguilar, and Jayson Castro. Due to the number of players in the session, the practice ended at around a quarter past nine.
“We can’t put up a real full team in practice. But it is what it is. They’re very aware and we really liked their focus that’s why it was a very short practice. They did what we wanted them to get done. So we cut it off early,” Reyes said.
Now that the team is heading into a four-day break in observance of the Holy Week, Reyes just had a simple reminder for his players as the tough grind starts next week as they gear towards the SEABA Tournament, which tips off exactly 30 days from now.
“They’re off starting tomorrow. They’ll be back on Monday,” said the five-time Coach of the Year.
“I just told them to make sure not to get too much out of shape.”
