Powerade Philippine National Team coach Yeng Guiao was relieved after the nationals practice at The Arena in San Juan on Thursday when both point guards Ryan Reyes and JayJay Helterbrand told the coach they are “pretty confident they can play” in the Jones Cup which begins in Taipei on July 18.
After another good workout at which even the players in the on-going Barangay Ginebra-San Miguel Beer championship series – Helterbrand, Cyrus Baguio and Mick Pennisi showed up to demonstrate their solidarity, Guiao said he is just waiting for the series which is tied at 2-2 to be over to get a full complement of players to scrimmage.
Guiao called of Friday’s practice to enable the players to attend the birthday celebration of Talk N’ Text team owner and Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny Pangilinan at The Mandarin Hotel.
Reacting to the news that Reyes and Helterbrand who were both having hamstring problems are confident they’ll be ready for the Jones Cup, Guiao said “ I can now breathe a sigh of relief that I don’t have to look for any other point guard.”
Adding to his relief was the fact that Talk N’ Text’s missing player Jarred Dillinger called shortly after he returned from abroad Thursday to say he’s ready to begin practice.
Guiao said that at his next practice which will be on Sunday he expects to have ten players so that “we can scrimmage and get the feel of the whole game playing full-court.” He said “we need to play around two or three more scrimmages before we leave for the Jones Cup even if its with each other.”
The national coach said doctors advised Ryan (Reyes) to ‘take two or three more sessions of therapy and then do light practices with the team so by the time we are ready for the Jones Cup he should be ready by that time also.” At the same time he said Helterbrand’s hamstring injury “was not that bad.”
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