With the FIBA World Cup roughly five weeks away, Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes isn't waiting around to see if -- and when -- big man Kai Sotto will show up at practice.
Reacting to a report published in spin.ph on Wednesday morning that quoted Sotto's agent as saying the 21-year-old will take ten days off first to rest and rehabilitate his back before joining Gilas, Reyes let out a chuckle.
"At this point, it is very difficult to say," he told ESPN on Wednesday late afternoon after practice. "I don't want to indulge in any speculation.
"Like I said, we'll deal with that issue. If he's here, he's here. If he's not here, then he's not here. Then we move forward.
"There's so many uncertainties that, for me, my attitude is simply I'll work with the players who are here.
"If he shows up -- I heard he arrived (back in the Philippines) today -- whenever he shows up, then we'll deal with that. If he doesn't show up, then we'll deal with that as well.
Reyes said whatever happens, the team is ready to move on and focus on their upcoming pocket tournament in China, adding: "The 'Plan B' is there. Like I said, when we came in, we had a vision of the kind of lineup that we want to put together.
"But we have a pool. So contingencies are in place, and we move forward."
The 16-man Gilas pool continued its daily practice on Wednesday, with only June Mar Fajardo, reportedly down with a stomach virus, the only absentee.
A source told ESPN the illness is "nothing serious."
On a practice he described as "good", Reyes shared: "As usual, we got a lot done -- part of our progression.
"All of our workouts and practices are programmed, so (it was) just the regular."
The team will reportedly play the Ateneo Blue Eagles on Thursday in a tune-up game at the Moro Lorenzo Center in the Ateneo campus.
Asked when was the latest that Sotto could join the pool without disrupting their preparations too much, Reyes repeated the deadline he gave two days ago.
"It's all speculation," he stressed.
"While we want to make sure that players are here, we want to make sure that he's at practice at the very least -- we've always had the date of July 25.
"That's one month before our first game, that's one week before our game in China. It's important that we get the practice time in for whoever is going to come and play in China.
"That's why my attitude is, we'll deal with is when he's here. If he's not here, then he's not here."