Letran star Rhenz Abando is looking to become a well-rounded player after his inclusion to the Gilas Pilipinas training pool.
Although the Season 97 MVP has proven his potential on the offensive end, his defense went under the scrutiny of Gilas head coach Nenad Vucinic during his training days with the national team.
“Ang natutunan ko kay coach Nenad, lagi niyang sinasabi na one-dimensional player ka lang, kailangan maging complete player ka, tapos kailangan mong maging aggressive on both offense and defense,” Abando told the reporters during the NCAA All-Star game on Sunday, June 5 at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Abando shared that the Serbian mentor urged him to work on his defense to truly become a complete two-way player that the national team can rely on.
“Dapat praktisin at i-work hard yung depensa. Yun nga, sinabihan niya ako last practice na dapat maging complete player ka, di pwede yung one-sided lang,” he added.
The 24-year-old high leaper said he’s making the most of the opportunity as he hopes to take one of the final roster spots for the FIBA Qualifying window in July - something that he admitted would hugely boost his confidence.
“Sobrang gustong gusto ko ito kasi napasama pa lang sa pool, grabe na yung kumpyansa mo e, Paano pa kaya kung nakapunta ka sa Gilas at marepresent yung bansa natin. Sigurado maboost yung confidence namin at yung kumpyansa namin tataas,” he beamed.
“Sobra (laking bagay) talaga ito sa akin. Para kang nag-apply sa trabaho na nasa resume mo na nag-Gilas ka. Malaking bagay yun na naging Gilas player ka kasi ibig sabihin noon isa ka sa pinakamarunong sa Pilipinas. Mahalaga ito para sa akin.”