BANGKOK (Thailand) - After missing out on qualifying for FIBA Asia Cup 2022, Thailand are back in the Pre-Qualifiers for Asia Cup 2025.

"They like to work hard and that’s a basic principle to build a team idea."
- Coach Edu Torres

They are considered among one of the favorites to make it past through this early stage of the competition to the Qualifiers, taking in consideration that they’ve already been there for the last cycle. Additionally, they are also lining up some of their bigger stars for the First Round of the Pre-Qualifiers in Mongolia.

Thailand's roster for First Round of Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers

Leading the way is Moses Morgan, who is making a return after averaging 20.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game during the last Pre-Qualifiers.

Then you have Nattakarn Muangboon who exploded for 32 points and 8 assists against Indonesia, while averaging 11.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in the Asia Cup Qualifiers.

Fans should get to see sharpshooting Nakorn Jaisanuk and will also be anticipating the debut of Freddy Lish, which means Thailand could arguably have some of the most individually talented players in the Pre-Qualifiers on their roster.

But the team was reminded early on in their training camp that individual talent only gets you so far.

"The first meeting we had, I asked them who are the best three European players in the NBA," said Edu Torres, the newly appointed head coach of the Thailand national team.

"They all answered Giannis, Jokic, and Doncic which is a very obvious answer."

"And then my next question was: which of them got the gold medal in the EuroBasket? The answer was none of them. Which of them won the silver medal? None of them. Which of them reached the Semi-Finals? None of them."

The point of emphasis from Torres was that despite not having those household global superstar names on the team, it was Spain who come out on top at the recent championship in Germany.

The Barcelona native made it clear this his reference of Spain’s summer success is not coming from the passion of national pride, but rather his passion to build team basketball.

"The team is above any [individual] name," says the 58-year-old head coach.

That is the priority of coach Torres at the moment as he takes over in leading this group of players to become a "team". Torres knows some of the players well after having coached in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) with the Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions, including Thailand national team star Tyler Lamb, and that has helped a bit in speeding up the process.

Nonetheless, he still feels that there is some work left to be done. Thailand’s campaign in the First Round of the Pre-Qualifiers will not be a cakewalk as they go up against the likes of Mongolia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Tahiti, but Torres is more focused on his squad first and foremost.

"I need to pay attention first to my team and, in this case, my obsession to become a team," he saus. "We have no time to waste. We have to become a team and we have to figure out how to play together and respect the opponents."

"But first we have to be ourselves to be able to compete in any level against any team."

Coach Torres talks about all of this way before the start of practice on the particular day and had only begun to sip his usual hot coffee. Most of the players in the Thailand national team training camp were already soaked in sweat on the court, working on their shot making tuned to the hip hop music blasted in the gym.

Again, this was before the scheduled time for practice.

"You can see from the atmosphere," said Torres.

"They like to work hard and that’s a basic principle to build a team idea, working with a national team. You cannot take it for granted."

"We’re a team. We’re just a bunch of guys and we are gathered here now. We have to become a team. Working hard, having a good attitude, it’s a key factor to build that team idea that I’m looking for."

FIBA