Gilas Miami training goes full-blast

MANILA, Philippines - It’s no holiday for Gilas in Miami as the Philippine national basketball team goes full-blast in training for the FIBA World Cup in Spain, enduring twice-a-day practices and even naturalized player Andray Blatche is booked at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, preferring to stay with his new teammates instead of going home after the workouts.

The Gilas delegation left Manila last Friday morning for Miami where Reyes is now supervising an 11-day boot camp. Reyes, assistants Joseph Uichico and Josh Reyes, conditioning coach Dexter Aseron and team manager Aboy Castro flew out with players Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan, JunMar Fajardo, L. A. Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, Gary David, Marcus Douthit, Beau Belga, Paul Lee, Jay Washington and Jared Dillinger. They were joined in Miami by Blatche and former New Zealand national team coach Tab Baldwin who will assist Gilas as consultant.

“Everybody is here,” said Castro in a message from Miami. “Andray did everything that the players did. We had one practice (on the first day last Saturday). We split it up into two groups, one lifting weights and the other, shooting. Chot wanted to get a lot of repetitions so that was the best way of doing it. Then, towards the end, we ran our offense to give Andray a first look at it. He’ll need a lot of reps to be able to master it. Obviously, he’s far from mastering it but at least, we’re on the way.”

Blatche, 28, is in Gilas’ initial list of players for the FIBA World Cup with Douthit. But when Reyes trims the cast to the final 12-man roster, he will name only one naturalized player as required by FIBA. Either Blatche or Douthit will be in the ultimate lineup. Blatche, who has a house in Miami, showed up with his buddy and “little brother” Bryan Extra who is fondly known as BX.

“Andray said it was great finally working out with the guys,” continued Castro. “It looked like he sweated more than the others. No rest day. We’re going twice a day every day, 9 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. We had a team meeting at 11 a.m. last Saturday and Andray joined us there, then we practiced from 5 to 7 p.m. Chot’s message was ‘We’re here to work.’”

Castro said Blatche, who has played for Washington and Brooklyn in nine NBA seasons, booked at the Marriott Marquis Hotel like his teammates even as he has a beautiful house nearby. He will wear No. 11 for Gilas. “We might have a barbecue at Dray’s house one night,” added Castro. “We found a Catholic Church about a five-minute walk from our hotel and there was an 11:30 a.m. Sunday Mass so it was perfect for the guys to go after practice at 11.” Gilas practices on the 19th floor NBA-standard basketball court at the hotel.

Castro said Reyes is finalizing two tune-up games in Miami, likely on Thursday and Saturday against the University of Miami at the Hurricanes’ varsity home court. The Hurricanes are piloted by Jim Larranaga who was Norwood’s coach at George Mason University. The varsity has a distinct international flavor with 7-0 Tonye Jekiri and 6-10 Raphael Akpejion, both of Nigeria, Manu LeComte of Belgium and Angel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico. Miami advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2012-13 under Larranaga.

“We invited Miami to play us at our hotel but it’s not allowed by the NCAA,” said Castro. “That’s because it’s considered an additional benefit to the NCAA players.”

Last Sunday, the Gilas coaches watched video of the team’s games at the recent FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan and discussed the game plan against Croatia, the team we’re playing in Seville in less than 35 days, until way past 12 midnight. That’s a dedicated coaching staff right there.”

Castro said the coaches aren’t just supervising the practices. They’re also working out, he added. “At the end of Monday’s practice, the coaches worked out to get their cardio work in,” he said. “Coaches had dinner together then met and watched more video. Coaches know that keeping their bodies in shape will help keep their minds sharp for all the important duties ahead.”

Baldwin, 56, is a naturalized New Zealand citizen born in Jacksonville, Florida. He has coached in three FIBA World Cups and took the Tall Blacks to the 2004 Athens Olympics. Baldwin brought New Zealand to the semifinals of the 2002 FIBA World Cup in Indianapolis. At the 2011 FIBA Asia Championships, he coached Jordan to second place and came within a field goal of beating China for the gold medal. Baldwin joined Gilas as consultant at the FIBA Asia Championships last year and will be on Reyes’ staff for the FIBA World Cup in Spain. Baldwin has also agreed to be a consultant for the Talk ‘N’ Text team, now under new head coach Uichico, in the PBA starting next season.