June 2, 2016
Countdown to Manila OQT: 33 days
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin remains positive in spite of injuries which continue to bug some of the squad’s pool players, even saying on Thursday that Gilas had its “best practice yet.”
“Good practice. Best practice yet. I think the intensity was there,” Baldwin said.
The mentor also praised naturalized big man Andray Blatche, who was able to incorporate himself into the system seamlessly.
“I thought Dray came in with a lot of intensity, we thought we sort of followed him a little bit. He lifted the level of energy and intensity in practice and I think every player should step up and do that as well,” Baldwin said. “It was a good practice. I told the guys after practice, it’s about time we take it a step forward.”
Baldwin also mentioned that Marcio Lassiter (bronchitis), Jeff Chan (groin), and Ryan Reyes (achilles) are still suffering from injuries.
“Marcio is really struggling with bronchitis and I don’t know if we will get him back before we leave for Greece. He is not well. We pray for him and he is getting all the medical needs. We wish he would be healthy as soon as possible.
“Jeff and Ryan are battling through some injuries. They are battling through it.”
The head coach said lacking two guards in practices causes some worry, but for the mean time, he is banking on the rest of his players to step up when it comes to outside shooting.
“I am (worried). With all our two guards having physical problems right now, but none of them so serious that we don’t think they won’t be there in the end. But again, it’s integration, chemistry in the end, getting enough practice time to be comfortable and fluid with what we are doing,” he shared.
“But if you look at the way Calvin (Abueva) shot the ball today; he shot it tremendous. Ray (Parks) is doing a good job shooting the ball. And we know our guards Terrence (Romeo), Jayson (Castro), and LA (Tenorio) can shoot the ball. Dray is doing some extra work after practice on his perimeter shots,” Baldwin said.
“We have to find ways to make perimeter shots because I don’t think we will be a powerful inside team. We are still going to be perimeter-oriented and transition-oriented.”
Gilas will play Iran in an exhibition match on June 8 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. Ticket prices range from P100 to P1,500.
