JAKARTA -- NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao initially wanted to think about accepting the job of leading Gilas Pilipinas in the next window of the FIBA Asian Qualifiers but he admitted that it would be very difficult to say no.
"I actually asked for some time to decide. It's difficult to say no," Guiao said after finishing their practice one day before facing China in Jakarta. "I had no plans to prolong my stint with the Philippine team after the Asian Games."
Guiao, however, sees his role as the head of the nation's squad as temporary.
"I'm just covering for Chot, just trying to hold the fort for Chot," Guiao clarified. "Right now, I don't want to be distracted from the job at hand because we have a really tough task ahead of us against China. I'll try to leave that at the back of my mind and think about it later."
While the multi-titled head coach is wearing the country's colors for the Asiad, his PBA team is currently campaigning in the Governors' Cup without him.
Led by import Olu Ashaolu, the Road Warriors have done well so far and have won both their games, beating the TNT KaTropa and NorthPort Batang Pier.
"I wanted to go back to NLEX because I might lose my job if I didn't. Coach Jolas (Jojo Lastimosa) has settled down and my staff is doing an excellent job there," Guiao said. "Boss MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) asked me and it's hard to turn your back on the challenge."
With the suspensions meted out by FIBA on many members of the Gilas pool, as well as Gilas coach Chot Reyes, Guiao knows that he'll have to be creative in forming a squad to take on Iran and Qatar.
"Because of the suspensions, only Gabe (Norwood), June Mar (Fajardo), and Baser (Amer) will be available so we'll have to look for nine other guys. We'll have to change the system somehow, at least for this window," he stated. "I'm not particularly aware of the system of coach Chot (Reyes). It's difficult to try and run a system that I do not know."
Guiao hopes that some of his players from the Asian Games could also join that team as he has seen potential in the unit.
"With the way we've bonded together, this is a very tightly-knit group. There's some chemistry here already," he explained. "They just like the camaraderie and companionship. I would have wanted to play the (Gilas pool) guys but we can't so for the meantime we'll look for other guys."
The problem with this is that the eligibility rules of the Asian Games are very different from FIBA's.
For the Asian Qualifiers, Stanley Pringle, Christian Standhardinger, and Jordan Clarkson cannot be on the same team -- only one of them can take the spot of the team's naturalized player.