JAKARTA—Jordan Clarkson won’t be around when the national team plays Kazakstan for its first crucial game on Thursday. But coach Yeng Guiao is the least worried person in the room.
True to his character, Guiao, who returns to the helm after a nine-year hiatus from national squad, said he is confident his boys could put their act together even without Clarkson, a four-year National Basketball Association veteran playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“We feel we have a pretty good game plan against Kazakstan, we feel we are ready,” said Guiao as the team trained at the Gor Lokasari Gym on Wednesday.
Clarkson caught the quickest flight to Jakarta but would still be in the air when the team, bannered by Rain or Shine players, face the Kazakhs at 11 a.m. today.
“The coaching staff has done an excellent job scouting, doing the preparation and [doing] the mind-setting of the players, and everybody is just making a contribution to the effort,” Guiao said.
Clarkson got the long-awaited clearance from the NBA to play in the Asian Games. He will arrive here via Singapore.
Guiao said Clarkson deserves to rest after a long flight from his base in Los Angeles.
The enigmatic coach said his familiarity with his players will be a key to the team’s chemistry.
“Although with the time that we spent together, we’ve made a lot of progress,” Guiao said. “Our team is jelling, the camaraderie is really good and they’re absorbing the system really well. That’s the good news.”
Guiao spent six years with the Elasto Painters and together, they won Philippine Basketball Association titles in 2012 and 2016.
This early, the game serves as a do-or-die match because the loser would be up against powerhouse China in Group D where the top two teams advance to the next round.
In the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, the Philippines beat Kazakstan, 67-65. But the Kazakhs advanced to the knockout stage.
Tim Cone steered the 1998 Centennial Team to a bronze-medal finish following a 73-68 win over Kazakhstan in the Bangkok Asian Games. Four years later in Busan, Kazakhstan returned with vengeance and took down the Philippines, 66-68, for the bronze medal.
Guiao is coaching his former players Maverick Ahanmisi, Chris Tiu, Gabe Norwood, James Yap, Beau Belga, Raymund Almazan and Paul Lee.
Completing the lineup are Christian Standhardinger, Stanley Pringle, Poy Erram and Asi Taulava.
The NBA, meanwhile, officially allowed Clarkson to play in the Asian Games on Wednesday.
In a statement, the NBA said that “the situation of the Filipino-American and the two Chinese athletes, Houston’s Zhou Qi and Dallas’s Ding Yanyuhang, is a special case to the standing ruling of the league on international tournaments.
“The NBA’s agreement with Fiba stipulates that NBA players can participate in the Olympic, the Fiba Basketball World Cup, Continental Cup competitions and associated qualifying tournaments,” the statement said.
“However, due to lack of clear communication of that agreement between the NBA and the Chinese and Philippine Basketball Federations, and after further discussions with both federations, the NBA has agreed to provide this one-time exception,” it added.
Image credits: Edison Oribiana