MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas gunner Dwight Ramos welcomed the plan to keep a 12-man core for the next four years, saying it would build the team’s chemistry for years to come.
Ramos on Monday is optimistic that the national team would be able to grow and learn together as the years go by.
“It feels good, I think it’s a good idea to keep everybody the same. Of course there’s things that come like if someone gets hurt, they’re gonna need a replacement but to keep mostly the same players every time, it just helps you build from window to window,” he told reporters.
“The chemistry’s always gonna be there, it’s not new people coming in and you gotta figure out how to play with them. I think it’s a good idea and we’re gonna make it work for the next four years,” he added.
The sharpshooting Ramos is a key piece of the team that is coached by Tim Cone.
The 12 core players are Ramos, Scottie Thompson, AJ Edu, Carl Tamayo, Calvin Oftana, CJ Perez, Jamie Malonzo, Kevin Quiambao, Kai Sotto, Chris Newsome, June Mar Fajardo and Justin Brownlee.
Oftana, for his part, said that it will be good for the team to keep the core intact for long especially since in past Gilas teams, they were only able to train for a few weeks.
“In my past few stints for Gilas, the training was just a bit short. But now, the [Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas] and the Philippines are really investing in us for the upcoming FIBA qualifiers and the World Cup,” the forward told reporters in Filipino.
“I think, this is really good because we are all together, if ever we have upcoming Gilas games, we can be called,” he added.
Quiambao, meanwhile, said he’s ready to be called up anytime, stressing that he “takes advantage” of every opportunity he gets.
The Nationals will battle Hong Kong on February 22, Thursday, for its first game in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers. They will also face Chinese Taipei at the PhilSports Arena on Sunday, February 25.