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| Break glass in case of emergency. |
First Five: PG LA Tenorio/ SG Jeffrei Chan/ SF Gabe Norwood/ PF Sonny Thoss/ C Marcus Douthit
There are a lot of cases in basketball, be it local or foreign, wherein talent is enough to win games. We’ve seen it time and again, when a n actual team with a balanced roster is defeated by a rag-tag selection led by a prodigy (we don’t even have to look that far, with names such as the NBA’s Cleveland days LeBron James, pre-Big Three/ post-Shaq Dwyane Wade and pre-muscle memory injury Derrick Rose and in the Pinoy hoops scene- Meralco/GlobalPort’s Sol Mercado who was going all HAM before a trade, injury and a questionable coach derailed his Most Improved Player 2012 campaign).
But that’s only if you have a talent of supernova proportions at the helm. For those that do not, then it comes down to hoping that your team has chemistry. That’s where we’re going with with our proposed starting unit. These are the guys who won the 2012 Jones Cup for us, and they’re the ones who should take the floor first.
While you could argue against the inclusion of Thoss in the starting line-up, we do so in the name of scoring balance. With Thoss on the floor, Douthit can concentrate more on offense and switching to the opposing team’s “weaker” big man (re: the Udonis to Shaq, Hansborough to Hibbert, Bonner to Duncan, etc.) while Thoss takes care of the heavy-lifting defensively. Of course, this team will only be as good as Douthit is on the floor, if he is able to anchor Gilas Pilipinas’ offense early, it opens things up for Tenorio and Chan from outside while Norwood does his freelancing small forward shtick to his heart’s content.
However, should Thoss still be hurting from his injury, then Coach Chot shouldn't play the "senti" card and just go with another guy outright. While you may push for 6"9 athlete Japeth Aguilar, since we're talking about the frontline here and having a serviceable guy at the helm, then we're going with burly 6"6 slotman Beau Belga to protect the paint (and break some ribs).
Second five: PG Jayson Castro/ SG Gary David/ SF Larry Fonacier/ PF Ranidel de Ocampo/ C Junemar Fajardo
Now comes the second unit, and with it the extra firepower. Castro should spend the next few weeks locked up in a room watching game clips of Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade. We don’t need him to try and shoot jumpers (although he needs one or two to go in first just to keep defenders honest), we need him to anchor to Dribble Drive Motion offense to the hilt. DRIBBLE. DRIVE. We already know what to expect from David and Fonacier, we’ll be giving up a bit defensively, but that’s not this unit’s strongest suit. They’re scorers, and that’s what they should focus on. RDO will and should be the designated low post presence for this spot despite Fajardo (depends on the match-ups really). To be quite honest, the loss of Kelly Williams AND Jarred Dillinger are a big blow to the Gilas cause, making us a little thin/ small at the small forward spot.
Break-glass-in-case-of-emergency:
PG Jimmy Alapag
When Tenorio tires out (and he will) from running away from bigger (Chinese, Koreans), beefier (Jordanian, Iranian, Lebanese) point guards and Castro starts to unravel as being the “too fast for his own good” hesitant guard that he sometimes is, then that’s where the man touted as the Mighty Mouse comes in. We don’t even have to create scenarios for you anymore if you are a true Pinoy hoop fan. Alapag is Alapag. You see basketball players smiling, laughing and slacking off on the court from time to time—but not Alapag. Bad mofos wake up to do bad mofo things.
SF/PF Marc Pingris
In our honest opinion, Pingris should be the littlest used player on the Gilas line-up. We don’t even want to see this guy as part of the regular rotation in the elimination round. We want Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes to superglue Pingris on the bench until we face off with Iran and that sumbeetch superstar of theirs Samad Nikkhah Bahrami (or any other Asian team with such a superstar). The minute Coach Chot plays Pingris in meaningless will be our undoing, as the opponents’ scouts will be quick to see his weaknesses offensively. But we all know what Pingris can do—what he’ll give and leave out on the SM MOA Arena floor if need be. That’s why we’re making an open appeal to Coach Chot to keep Pinoy Sakuragi under wraps for now.
Who is your final, final, FINAL FIBA-Asia Gilas Pilipinas 12?
Almost the same but I'll put Belga in for:
ReplyDelete1st Option: Pingris, if Thoss is healthy.
2nd Option: Thoss, if he is indeed injured.
I'd start Gary over Jeff and, in big games, start Ping over Gabe. Just kill them with the LA - Marcus pick and roll. With your starting 5, I think it lacks a little bit more scoring punch. historically, Gabe has not been much of a scorer as he is more of a facilitator so using him as a 3 with this group puts too much pressure on LA to create offense. Dumping it low to Marcus from the tip off may wear him down which is why I'd rather have Gary to start game. Gary is better in creating shots for himself as compared to Jeff which will lighten the load on LA. This will also let Jeff get a feel for the game and lessen the pressure on his shoulders (we all know what happens to him when the pressure is on). Pwede kasi once Jeff comes in from the bench, he's a bit more relaxed and let the games come to him. For the second group, it will all be about Castro and how he runs the offense. Let the dribble drive come in to full effect and let Larry, RDO and Jeff spot up and make everyone pay for helping on Castro. When all else fails, get Junemar or RDO on the post and go inside - out to score.
ReplyDeleteDefensively is where I am a bit worried especially with big wing men. For the first time in a while, I think size wise, we can hold our own, especially if Sonny (or even Belga) makes the team. You are correct in letting Sonny start as how effective he was in playing with Dozier last conference. Ping and Gabe are our only reliable defensive wingmen with JD and Ryan being out. I was really high on JD and Ryan as they are big (and smart) enough to play the athletic wings of the other teams. Ping will hold his own, but I am just worried how he will be able to guard quicker players. He can definitely handle stronger guys but I hope he can stick with the speed of the other teams.
Our shooters have to click for us to have a real chance in winning this thing. Marcus has to be consistent on both ends along with Fajardo. Slaughter will take Sonny's place in the next few years once he sheds his baby fat and realize that just being big will not be enough.