Nenad Vucinic admits pressure, but ready for challenge as Gilas heads to New Zealand for FIBA WC Asian qualifiers

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Nenad Vucinic admitted that there is pressure in handling the top job for the Philippine men's national basketball team, but it is a challenge he wholeheartedly accepts.

“I really enjoy the importance of basketball to everybody in this country. And it’s good to be involved in something that means so much to so many people. So with that, comes pressure, obviously,” Vuicnic said in a statement.

But for him, the pressure is also a responsibility that he will turn into a challenge ahead of the Philippines' hosting of the FIBA World Cup next eyar.

“So that challenge to try to bring joy, and we have the World Cup next year, to bring joy to the people that care about the game is something that has to drive anybody that is involved in the Gilas program. It is a pressure, it is a responsibility. But it has to turn into a challenge and has to turn into the enjoyment of working together towards the same goal and that is the performance at the World Cup," he said.

Vucinic will handle Gilas in the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers. The national team will face New Zealand on Thursday in their home court.

New Zealand is not a new territory for Vucinic as he also played there and had a coaching stint in the NBL.

“I was coaching there for a long time while I was playing and I enjoyed it right from the first moment," the Gilas coach for the third window said. "I take [coaching] very seriously. It means a lot to me. I didn’t think it was going to become my career, and that I would make a living out of that, but it turns out I can do some things with that and I would gladly accept to have basketball in my life,” he added.

On Tuesday, the national team flew to New Zealand and had their first practice for the qualifiers this afternoon, according to a social media post of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Kiefer Ravena, Dwight Ramos, and Rhenz Abando headline the 11-man delegation of the national squad for the World Cup qualifiers.

—JMB, GMA News