Thirdy Ravena, Dwight Ramos and the younger members of the Gilas Pilipinas national men’s basketball team are now familiarizing themselves with the system of returning national coach Chot Reyes.
Getting used to the dribble drive motion offense that Reyes usually runs in his games is one of the new systems that they are familiarizing with.
“It’s my first time with coach Chot, it’s something new that I’m trying to pick up on as soon as I could,” said Ravena, a few days after he returned from Japan to rejoin Gilas with Dwight Ramos.
Ravena and Ramos discussed their return to the national squad, which is set to see action in the FIBA World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers’ February window in two weeks’ time. They took their time to discuss their participation with Gilas during the weekly program, “Power and Play.”
Both took a break from their stints with their respective club teams in the B.League back in Japan, with Ravena playing for SanEn Neophoenix and Ramos being part of the Toyama Grouses.
The dribble drive system is a guard-oriented offense focused on players spreading out the floor and attacking the rim with a dribble.
Under this system, the player attacking the defense seeks to make multiple defenders go after him.
Members of Gilas rarely ran this play during Tab Baldwin’s time as coach.
So far, Ramos said they have not discussed their roles with the team as they spent time learning Reyes’ system since they joined the team practices.
Gilas is now practising with Marc Pingris returning as well to the Gilas squad, but this time as an assistant coach.
The team also saw the addition of Robert Bolick Jr. Bolick re-signed with NorthPort Batang Pier over the week.
Gilas will meet South Korea on February 24, before facing India on the 25th, New Zealand on the 27th and South Korea again on the 28th.
All games will be held behind closed doors at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.