Loaded was Gilas Pilipinas Men’s Window 4 lineup.
Ten of the 12 players were either overseas pros or PBA stars. And of course, the two pillars of the program played together for the first time in Jordan Clarkson and Kai Sotto.
For Clarkson and Sotto, it was the result of years of courtship from Chot Reyes.
“One of the main reasons I played sa Gilas kasi nalaman ko si Coach Chot [Reyes] ang coach dahil bata pa lang ako pangarap ko na maging coach yan,” said the 20-year-old Sotto.
“To be honest with you, coach was the first person to talk to me 10 years ago when I was just going into college. Just being here is a blessing,” added Clarkson, who first met Reyes back when he was still at University of Missouri.
It was just five years ago when Reyes released his ’23 for 2023′ pool filled with youngsters who he thinks will be ready come the World Cup.
Since then, the likes of Dwight Ramos, Thirdy Ravena, Juan Gomez de Liano, Robert Bolick, Isaac Go, and Carl Tamayo were able to be tapped by Reyes’ iteration of Gilas.
But of course, Sotto and Clarkson were the crown jewels.
“When they awarded the hosting rights to us in 2017 our chairman MVP [Manny V. Pangilinan] said, ‘Chot, you need to put up a list on players we can put for 2023’,” bared Reyes.
“On top of our list were Jordan and Kai Sotto. For us to have those two guys here, it’s huge. That was five years ago and now we have it here. We are just completing the plan.”
In the two games they played together, Clarkson and Sotto showed magic on the court.
Clarkson averaged 25.0 points, 6.5 assists, and 5.5 rebounds while Sotto normed 13.0 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks.
Reyes knew that the two would mesh. But what’s important for him to see was how they would play alongside their peers.
And it was mission accomplished for this window.
“Well, we have a lot of first-timers and it’s important for us to see those guys. Guys like Calvin [Oftana], Jamie [Malonzo], Roosevelt [Adams], and all of these guys and how Dwight and JC played together. That was very, very important. We were also able to test the versatility of the teams. Sometimes, we go big when we have Kai and Japeth [Aguilar] together. Sometimes, we go regular or we go small when we don’t have a real four guy,” he claimed.
The next time the world will see the Clarkson-Sotto duo will be the Worlds. And up until that time, the rest will have to prove that they can play with them.
