MANILA (2016 Rio Olympics) - The Philippines national team will have to pull out all stops to reach the Rio de Janeiro Games via a FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

The fans know it, the players know it and Gilas coach Tab Baldwin certainly knows it.

So the coach of the Filipinos, who made it to the Final of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha-Hunan before falling to China, can't be blamed for wanting to have as much preparation time as possible before taking part in one of the three six-team OQTs.

Baldwin has begun training the team on Mondays in November.

That is something that will take place for the next several months, workouts on the first day of the week for the Gilas players and coaching staff, before full preparations get underway for the OQT.

Baldwin not only remains in touch with the players in his national team pool but also works on strategy with them.

And while the American coach is happy to have the opportunity to do so, he says even more time would be ideal.

When asked in the Philippines media if he was happy with the arrangement and could achieve a lot with the practice time being afforded to him, Baldwin, who famously led New Zealand into the Semi-Finals of the 2002 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Indianapolis, answered: "Not as much as I would do with two-a-week and certainly not as much as I would do with ten-a-week.

"But we'll take it.

"We appreciate the opportunity to work with the guys.

"All progress is important progress. Although we will not be going at a rabbit's pace forward, we'll be something better than a snail's pace."

FIBA