The members of the Gilas Pilipinas were all committed to accomplish the mission of getting to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro next year as they stepped up their buildup for the FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha, China slated Sept. 23-Oct. 3.
“Every single person’s goal is Rio. It’s not about going there to play well. It’s going there to bring home the hardware,” said Gilas coach Tab Baldwin as quoted by TV5’s Carlo Pamintuan on his Twitter account.
“Our goal is to win every single game out there. We’ll have all the information we need about all the teams out there,” Baldwin said.
Each member of the Gilas team, except Andray Blatche and Sonny Thoss, yesterday attended a conference with the Cebuano scribes held in between two practice sessions at the Hoops Dome in Lapulapu City.
Gilas pitched camp in Cebu so the Nationals could stay focused on the final week of preparation “Two-a-day practices in Manila means sitting inside the car maybe four hours. Cebu takes that problem away from us,” Baldwin cited as another reason for their Cebu jaunt.
In Cebu, the Nationals are billeted at the Crown Regency Suites and Residences which is five minutes from the Hoops Dome.