SMART Gilas Tropang Texters

If there's anything that was proven in yesterday's 110-98 victory over the gigantic frontline of the Alaska Aces, it's that the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters are the best, star-studded line-up in all of Philippine basketball.

Gaano kaya kaiba ung kalalabasan ng 2009 FIBA-Asia
kung nakapaglaro si RR imbis na si Willie Miller bilang PG?

Yes, Barangay Ginebra has the household names, but they never seem to be truly healthy and could only boast of one guy who's the best at his position at this point (Mark Caguioa). Rival Petron also has some solid star power but not as established as those of the Gin Kings and not on the same plateau as the Texters. BMeg? Well, we'll just have to wait another conference before coach Tim Cone finally figures out that new recruit JC Intal is no Marcio Lassiter/ Scottie Pippen and that he can't win with three scorers playing heavy minutes at the perimeter without at least one of them being a lockdown defender (they should've pushed to get Dylan Ababou, hey maybe they could consider stealing Bitoy Omolon from Air21).


But in the end, when healthy and firing at all ends, TNT could very well form the core of the PBA's 15 man pool for SMART Gilas 2 and just throw in some missing pieces. As you may now know, familiarity is everything in international basketball regardless of the offensive sets. This isn't some all star game and shouldn't be treated as such, and we've said and argued time and again that our best chances of winning is to have a team that has played together for years represent our country (which was the formula used by SMART Gilas 1).

From its current roster, you can take in Jayson Castro, Ryan Reyes, Larry Fonacier, Jarred Dillinger, Ranidel de Ocampo, Kelly Williams and, as a prospect, Japeth Aguilar.

That's seven players, with old reliable Jimmy Alapag crossed out because of his age and to give his spot to other younger guys who can serve flag and country.

From there, you can now add guys who can fit around the players above or reinforce it. At PG, Alex Cabagnot brings that helter skelter, open court wizardry so he's in. Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter are obvious picks at the 2 spot. Arwind Santos takes the cake as our perimeter stopper at the 3.

That's 11 guys.

Throw in an import like Marcus Douthit, or maybe someone younger who can run the floor, shoot free throws and rebound like a beast and you have 12 solid guys who can really make a deep FIBA Asia run. Speed has always been a key for team Philippines that hasn't been maximized or utilized enough. Asian countries have traditionally been all about bigs and shooters and never about top notch PGs-- something we have a lot of.

Think about it, China parades it's 6"9 Sun Yi at point guard and he brings the ball down the court. Jayson Castro sticks him like a motherf... and, in the rare occasion that Yi overcomes Castro (if Castro can rip the ball from the NBA's Chris Paul TWICE in a game, he can do it against anyone), then Ryan Reyes goes up and guards him like a pitbull.

Oh, and if you're saying that JVee Casio should be added, well, I don't have any qualms about that. But we already have Castro, Cabagnot and Reyes at PG so... and Fonacier's in there for clutch shooting, defense, and old school sneaky defensive gulang tactics that would make Hall of Famer Sonny Jaworski proud.

Nice.

And while this writer is all for the development of younger players, it's time that we really focus on the task at hand and let the best players play right now. Let the youngsters play during blowouts. Hell, that's what training pools and scrimmages are for anyway.

Back to TNT, the way things are going this conference-- with everyone back to health and all,  and with Petron and Ginebra both struggling to find on court balance with their loaded rotations, we are looking at another title run-- and I don't think there's any team out there who can really put up a fight.