Chot wary over RP 5’s dilemma

National coach Chot Reyes said yesterday the country’s continuing suspension by the Federation Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) is ruining plans of forming a competitive team for next year’s Asian qualifiers to earn a ticket to the 2008 Olympics.

Reyes arrived the other day from Taiwan where he led a hastily formed aspirants squad to sixth place in the eight-team Jones Cup. It was a disappointing finish but the Philippine team’s 3-6 overall record was not unexpected.

"We can’t go on this way, not knowing what direction to take because we’re still in limbo because of the FIBA suspension," said Reyes. "We’ll sit down as soon as possible with (PBA) Commissioner (Noli) Eala to seriously review our plan of action. We’ve now lost whatever gains we achieved in training for the FIBA-Asia qualifiers to earn slots for the World Championships."

The suspension disqualified the Philippines from playing in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) eliminations for the FIBA-Asia qualifiers to the World Championships and made academic the progress the national team gained in playing at the Global Hoops Summit in Las Vegas, the Jones Cup and the Sultan’s Cup in Brunei last year.

Reyes said even if the suspension is now lifted and the Philippines is allowed to play at the Asian Games in Doha late this year, he’s not sure if a competitive team can still be formed.

"Our momentum is gone," said Reyes. "The countries playing in Doha have already formed their teams and they’re now preparing for the Asian Games. In our case, we don’t even know what’s going to happen to us."

Reyes said the team he brought to Taipei last week had the benefit of only six practices and never hit its stride.

"The main thing was burnout because our pros just came from playing in the PBA, some of them like Mike Cortez, Dondon Hontiveros and Sonny Thoss fresh from a tough seven-game series," said Reyes. "In Taipei, we played nine games in nine days. There’s no other international tournament that makes teams play nine straight games without a break. Then, we had to teach the new guys, four amateurs, our system from scratch."

Reyes said he never had a complete team for the six practices. "We gave the players coming from the PBA playoffs a little break," said Reyes. "They needed the rest. When Willie (Miller) backed out at the last minute, we were lucky Ronald (Tubid) volunteered to take his spot the day before we left for Taipei."

Cortez and Thoss sat out the last three games in the Jones Cup because of injuries.

Reyes said the national team has been invited to play in three more international tournaments next month in Qatar, Singapore and Brunei.