The Gilas Pilipinas team that won second place in the FIBA Asia Championship will likely stay intact for the World Cup in Spain next year, said national coach Chot Reyes yesterday.
"The team will be the same," Reyes said of Gilas, shooting down suggestions from some quarters who are pushing for more reinforcements.
"Who are you going to replace and who are you going to put in?"
"Who are they going to replace? Can they be much better than them? And how much better?"
Some quarters also suggested of having more than one naturalized player, as a backup, in case the first is injured.
He said these people don't know what they're talking about.
"Do they know how much it costs to have a naturalized player?"
Reyes said having Douthit around costs the association about P1.5 million a month. Douthit, he calculated, gets about $30,000 (P1.2M) a month.
But naturalized player Marcus Douthit is expected to be replaced as Gilas will begin looking for a 7-foot player in the hope of making the country's rare participation in the world championship worthwhile.
Isa ka ba sa mga "genuises" na sinasabi ni Chot? Hala,comment na!