Sixth best in Asia

It’s almost over now.

Another year, another middle-of-the-pack finish despite: having a solid sports program to build on, a collection of committed players (not necessarily the best), and being funded by no less than the local business sector’s “IT” man, Manny V. Pangilinan.

The Smart Gilas campaign took yet another telling blow, failing to land fifth against the athletic Qatar national team 81-71. Despite another “vintage” effort from aging big man Asi Taulava (13 points, 19 rebounds), the Philippine contingent was relegated to sixth—behind leaders China, Iran, South Korea, Japan and Qatar.

To be quite fair, SG was missing gunner Sol Mercado and overhyped but still an athletic 6”9 Japeth Aguilar (who I saw just last night having dinner at a posh hotel in the metro sporting a bulky knee brace) and had to rely on two of the PBA’s offense-less past Most Valuable Players Taulava and Kelly Williams. This forced the team to rely heavily on threes (half of which they couldn’t convert) and the erratic playmaking of non-traditional point guards JV Casio and Chris Tiu (who are spot-up shooters by trade).

If Smart Gilas wants to win, then they should first do away with Serbian coach Rajko Toroman. Yes he led Iran to a title, but so did his replacement—which leads this writer to believe that it wasn’t the coach, but rather the players who have been together for so long (and who have enjoyed a natural, if not freakish, growth spurt).

There are more than enough adequate names who can coach this team if they are given the same leeway and patience as Toroman. Tim Cone can coach this team, as with Norman Black (who I believe would do an excellent job on the international stage). Local, “winning” names such as Koy Banal, Franz Pumaren (who retired in the UAAP to concentrate on politics but is a lock to “steal” players and have them suit up for DLSU) and even Eric Altamirano are competent enough to lead. Hell, if Yeng Guiao was given a sure three to five years with this team, they’d be a winner easily, and even if they weren’t they’d play with balls.

You could also point out that Toroman failed in developing either Aguilar or Greg Slaughter (who scored 18 points against North Korea). Granted, that may not have been asked of him, but as head coach, he has the power to at least get someone to train his young bigs (that’s what assistant coaches are for). The two guys could easily be the answer at the power forward and center positions for the next five years—Aguilar as a hybrid forward and Slaughter as your traditional, back-to-the-basket big.

And for all the love thrown Chris Tiu’s way, he is not a superstar basketball player. He plays with heart and dedication, but he’ll never be “the Man.” He wasn’t with Xavier (that title belongs to one Joseph Yeo) and not even with Ateneo (Intal, Al Husseini were). He can be the team’s spiritual leader, but someone should just step in and say, “hey, player x is a better SG than you.”

The teams need to develop its bigs, and play them heavily. There’s no shortcuts for big men, and getting beefy imports won’t do much help. Why? Because you’d play your imports more, and not allow your own local bigs to develop on the big stage. In reality, SG should’ve gotten guards for imports—guys who can create their own shots and as proven time and again by American imports, can make slow-footed Asian defenders look silly.

Think about it. What if this team, this SG team, went with a line up of Casio at PG, Baracael at SG, a 6”6 import—say Anthony Johnson at the wing, Williams at the four and Taulava at the five.

That line-up would get buckets on teams trying to stop Johnson alone. It would also open things up for Casio, and we’ve seen how well Johnson and Williams play together on the court (at times, even trying to “out-dunk” each other). Also, it’s not like it’s unheard of or anything, Jordan (or was it Qatar) parades Rasheim Wright at the two right?

Sigh, if only.

If there’s one silver lining here, it’s that it doesn’t look like the “olympic dream” is going to end soon. Not with MVP continuing to rise in the ranks of the country’s power players, and his continued support to the basketball cause (which I guess, we should thank Chris Tiu for *wink, wink*).