Chot Reyes says ‘Puso’ remains to be Gilas battle cry as he compares 2014 vs 2023 World Cup squads

‘Puso’ was Gilas Pilipinas’ mantra when it ended a protracted 36-year FIBA World Cup look drought by qualifying to the 2014 version in Spain.

Nine years later, head coach Chot Reyes careworn every part stays the identical as they’re as soon as once more repping the flag within the 2023 FIBA World Cup right here.

The longtime tactician, nonetheless, famous that whereas ‘Puso’ continues to gas the crew, every part else could also be completely different.

“I think ‘Puso’ is still very much present and it’s still the anchor of everything we are doing,” Reyes stated in a press convention on Thursday.

“We always say that we fight until we cannot fight anymore for our country with all our hearts. That is what ‘Laban Pilipinas, Puso’ is all about.”

For one, Gilas Pilipinas can be a really a lot completely different squad this time round with nearly all of the crew getting their first-ever style of what it is wish to play within the World Cup. Save for crew captain Japeth Aguilar, June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, RR Pogoy, and Kiefer Ravena, everybody else is plunging to their World Cup debuts.

Aside from crew composition, Reyes additionally highlighted the truth that their naturalized participant from 2014, Andray Blatche, is way completely different from present reinforcement in Jordan Clarkson, noting that the 2 ballers provide distinctive issues to the desk.

Still, Reyes stated the values and the embodiment of ‘Puso’ will all the time be the identical for the nationals.

“The values remain the same [but] the tactics may differ. Obviously, different players, different techniques, different strategies, and different skill sets,” Reyes added.

“That’s the big difference, like Japeth said, before in the case of our naturalized player, we had a  seven-footer in Andray Blatche and now it’s not the same.”

Gilas will open its marketing campaign on Friday on the Philippine Arena towards Dominican Republic.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News