Smart Gilas settles for 4th in FIBA Champion's Cup

At this point in time, Smart Gilas has effectively gone from a promising team of amateurs, to one that has fallen victim to its own hype, all the way to today's nice mix of young names and PBA veterans who have re-established what Philippine basketball is all about and should be: teamwork.

Truth be told, when the PBA sent the ill-conceived all star selection to represent the country a couple of years back, guys weren't playing their usual roles on the floor. Instead of making sacrifices on the floor, it was quite clear that some of the players we were rooting and pulling for had their own agendas (re: Arwind Santos, Dondon Hontiveros). Be it showing off for international scouts, not wanting to get hurt or just plain settling for wearing the Philippine colors but not representing and fighting for country-- those guys failed simply because they didn't play as a team.




Fortunately, that is not the case for Smart Gilas.

And despite the recent setback, it would be pretty safe to say that Philippine basketball has returned to at least the top 10 teams this side of the globe (China, Iran, Lebanon, Japan, South Korea and Chinese Taipei being at the forefront of course).

Still, I am a firm believer in the fact that there's always room for improvement at any or all levels. Here's my take on the player's performance in the FIBA Asia Champion's Cup:

Dondon Hontiveros - B-
We all know that the Cebuano hotshot has the game, but the last two years, I haven't seen that old "Kobe-like" player who drew raves from Internet junkies like myself for being a better all around basketball player than fellow Southern superstar James Yap. Blame it on age, or maybe the off court distractions. I'm giving him a B minus, only because I expected more out of this guy out of all the PBA recruits.

Asi Taulava - B
Even with his height, heart and heft, Taulava hurts this team more than he helps it. He has never been a dominant rebounder, and never really learned the intricacies of low post footwork. Sure enough, when his speed and strength went away with time, so did his effectivity on the court. At best, he's a solid rotation player, but not one that can fill the void for SG's Marcus Douthit.

Jayvee Casio - A
Superstar point guard and true heart and soul of this team. Llanesa, one of my closest friends and former UST Varsitarian sports ed, said that Casio's pretty much doing what he's done for DLSU back in the day-- the only difference now is that he's in even better shape, thus the superstar numbers and plays. Oh, and don't you forget that he had to make the painful transition of playing go-to-shooting guard to pass-first point guard under head coach Rajko Toroman.

Chris Tiu - B+
The poster boy's being exposed! Someone save him! He'll hit his share of shots, and he does fight for rebounds over trees, but Tiu is just a tad bit slow and short to start at SG for Gilas. Katib will eat him for lunch. So will the athletic Jordanians and Qataris (where do they even get their players?!). Sorry Tiu fans.

Marcus Douthit - A
He gets hit, he gets up. He scores in the paint with a variety of finesse moves. He challenges shots. He doesn't whine or make faces. He's all business and has that "gentle giant" demeanor to him. There's absolutely nothing not to love about this guy and we're all lucky that he chose to wear Blue, Red, Yellow and White.

Japeth Aguilar - B+
He's never going to play with his back to the basket. I get it now. He'll camp out from 15 feet and up, just like his look-a-like Chris Bosh. Okay, that's fine then. He still bites on every pump fake thrown his way, but what he lacks in defensive IQ, he makes up for with aggressiveness on offense. I'd have no problems with Aguilar if he keeps dunking on heads and taking names, even if he does average a paltry 3-4 rebounds a game.

Mac Baracael - C
What the hell happened? Is he hurt? Where is my 3rd favorite FEU Tamaraw of all time (next to Mr. Abarrientos and Mr. Santos of course)? He settled for one too many threes, looked lost on the floor and hesitant against taller defenders. A quick remedy to this is to get it over with, and lock him in at small forward, where he rightfully belongs.

Chris Lutz/ Marco Lassiter - B
They hit shots and play defense, if only Rajko Toroman could play them exclusively as alternating 2s with Baracael at the 3 and Casio at the 1, that would be my preferred Smart Gilas backcourt/wings.

Andy Barocca - D
Gained weight, but slowed down considerably. Lost his spot to Jayvee Casio (and will ultimately be relegated to 3rd string PG once Jimmy "The Best Point Guard in Asia" Alapag comes in for the FIBA-Asia tournament). This is quite a shame though, since he's the only shot creator on the Gilas roster from 1 to 15.

And while I'd like to talk about the disappointing performances (or lack thereof) of guys like UAAP MVP Dylan Ababou and Jason Ballesteros, there's really no point to wait for this guys to develop at this point. The FIBA Asia's right around the corner, and the London Olympics is all set for 2012.

Maybe Rajko Toroman et. al. could reconsider and get another shooting guard, say, GARY "I"M A LEGIT PBA SUPERSTAR GOD DAMN IT" DAVID and a big man like Sonny Thoss or his fellow Alaska teammate, the project known as Samigue Eman (there's still some hope!).

Let's go Pilipinas!