Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes is not too keen on adding new players to the Gilas Pilipinas pool for the upcoming FIBA World Cup, preferring to stick with the group that he has right now.
"We put a plan together. We don't want to keep going back and teaching and teaching and teaching," Reyes said after Gilas wrapped up its first practice since returning from their European training camp. "If we put a new guy in, it's back to square one with regard to teaching. So we're kind of balancing that with the need to add players in or not. There's a lot of considerations going that we have to figure out. It's not as simple as calling someone."
Despite the heavy rain that enveloped the metropolis, sixteen players showed up on Thursday night. Among them were three players who were unable to join the trip to Europe - Ray Parks, Calvin Oftana and RR Pogoy. The players who did go to Europe were all present save for the injured Scottie Thompson.
"The turnout has never been an issue for me," Reyes said. "We always knew, that's why we have a pool. We're always going to have injuries, people are going to get sick, unavailable. Now that we're back here, everyone's coming back."
Pogoy, still recuperating from a hand fracture, is still a few weeks away from participating in a full practice.
"Roger was able to join the shooting drills earlier. But other than that, he still can't catch a direct pass," Reyes said.
The original pool had 21 players, with Carl Tamayo being the first to drop out. The team is still waiting for Kai Sotto and Jordan Clarkson, both of whom Reyes is hoping to have for their pocket tournament in China during the first week of August.
"As far as I know, Kai should join us right after Summer League," Reyes said. "Jordan, we're asking him to come in as early as possible. We want him to be able to join us for the China tune-up series. So that's where we're at right now. But whether he's able to do so, we don't know."
Reyes is also unsure about Jordan Heading's status: "I know that he's rehabbing his back. I don't know if he's going to be able to join us."
AJ Edu, however, is ready to go after sitting out during the Europe trip due to an ankle injury.
"He was doing all these things in Europe, except he couldn't join the full five on five because his ankle was still swollen. But now that he's rested these last three days, I fully except when we go on our live five on fives, AJ will join us."
Still, Reyes wouldn't completely rule out adding a new player or two if the need arises.
"People are always ready. Arvin [Tolentino], Marcio Lassiter. All those guys know that if we decided to call them, if the need arises, they're going to be ready."
But as of now, Reyes' focus is to prepare for the four-nation pocket tournament in China, where Gilas will take on fellow World Cup teams Iran, Lebanon and Senegal.
"Everything we're doing now is in preparation for that," Reyes said. "We want to make sure that we get everybody ready, improve and continue the development of the strides that we made in Europe and continue working on our game shape. I think that's very, very important because we want to make sure that in China we should be approaching competitive level already."