COACH Chot Reyes will continue calling the shots for the RP
men’s basketball team.
The BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas yesterday reiterated
its all-out support to the eloquent, high-profiled mentor whose stint as
national coach ended with a ninth place finish in the FIBA-Asia Men’s
Championship in Tokushima, Japan, last year.
"Chot remains as the national team," BAP-SBP executive
director Patrick Gregorio said in the weekly PSA Forum Tuesday at the Shakey’s
UN Avenue branch.
Reyes, 44, was recently tapped by Talk N Text as its new head
coach after his year-long stint with the national squad and a stop with San
Miguel both as mentor and consultant. He took over from Derek Pumaren.
The country’s governing body for basketball reiterated its
support for Reyes during a recent meeting with officials of the pro league.
During the same meeting, the BAP-SBP presented to the PBA several proposals
concerning the league’s supposed participation in several international
tournaments.
Among the points raised by the BAP-SBP, according to
Gregorio, is the possible stint of the team that will emerge champion in the
Philippine Cup in the FIBA-Asia Men’s Champions Cup in May in United Arab
Emirates.
"After all, that’s what the Champions Cup is all about, club
champions from around Asia competing against each other in one tournament,"
Gregorio said in the forum sponsored by Shakey’s and Pagcor.
"The league asked for some time to study it," said Gregorio.
The BAP-SBP executive director also said he’s still waiting
whether San Miguel Corp. will commit to funding the training and program of the
national squad. The food and beverage conglomerate funded the whole-year
preparation of the SMC-RP men’s basketball team under Reyes in 2007, a stint
that saw the nationals compete in the FIBA-Asia, Champions Cup in Iran, Jones
Cup in Taiwan, SEABA Men’s Championship and training stint in the US and
Belgrade.
"But what we’ve reiterated is that instead of just supporting
a particular team, we’ll be more than glad if we’ll get support to the entire
program itself in order to sustain its continuity until 2012 when the next
Olympic comes," said Gregorio.
Under the program being laid out by the BAP-SBP is the
formation of the Nokia-Pilipinas Youth team under head coach Franz Pumaren. From
a pool of 160, the roster is now down to 17 and will be presented to the media
next week.
The young cagers are currently training six times a week as
part of their training for the SEABA under-16 championship and the FIBA-Asia
under-16 championship. The team is set to compete as a guest squad in the coming
PBL conference and then will leave for the US on March 15 for further training.
