From Spain to Korea

Gilas Pilipinas embarks yet on another historic journey following their moral victory-filled campaign in the recently concluded 2014 FIBA World Cup tournament-- this time in beautiful Incheon, Korea as part of the 2014 Asian Games.

By now, you've probably heard of Gilas' little debacle concerning 2014 FIBA World Cup reinforcement Andray Blatche and of how he will not be suiting up for the team in Korea owing to a technicality. In his place is resident Gilas' import Marcus Douthit, who'll have to (re)convince the entire Filipino basketball community that though he's not at par with the offensively-gifted Blatche, he can still get the job done.

Now, because of the way our team performed against some of the World's best basketball teams, it's easy to fall into the trap of expecting an instant medal finish-- hell, a gold even being that we're the only Asian team that wasn't blown out by more than 15 points in a single game the entire 2014 FIBA World Cup.

Don't.

Argentina, Croatia, Puerto Rico, Greece and even Senegal don't know who Jimmy Alapag is. They don't know L.A. Tenorio. They don't respect Marc Pingris.

They. Don't. Know.

Why?

Because they've never played against our guys on a competitive set before. It was the very first time. They had little to no time to prepare for us other than what their scouts could pull from the Internet.

In Asia?

We've been playing the same guys the last decade or so that every one this side of the world knows Alapag is going to pull up for a deep three. Or that Gabe Norwood is only an offensive force in international tournaments (which sucks for his PBA Rain or Shine fans). Or that Ranidel de Ocampo is a sweet, beautiful combination of Euro-finesse and Pinoy brutal basketball. Or that Jeffrei Chan is the closest thing we have to a shooter (though it didn't quite show in the World Cup). Or that we have shit loads of patience for one Gary David. Hit or miss.

Iran knows us. China knows us. Korea knows us.

So the element of surprise is out.

What's troublesome is that during the tournament, teams were able to show the blue print on how to stop our offensive sets. Argentina quickly switched to a full court press in the 2nd half of their game versus Gilas to slow us down. Yes, Alapag, Tenorio and Lee were still able to bring the ball down, but it threw a huge monkey wrench in our attack. This was followed by Puerto Rico and (though unsuccessful) Senegal.

We could only hope and pray that our Asian brethren were too busy preparing for this tournament that they skipped watching the Worlds.

Because of our players' innate speed and athleticism, we can probably get through the Koreans and Chinese Taipei teams or any other Asian country from our region. But against the Middle Eastern teams (Iran, and somehow, thanks to Rajko Toroman, Jordan) that have the height, heft and speed-- all they really need to do is watch that Argentine game and it's over. Slow Gilas down by controlling the boards and pressuring the backcourt and it forces us to play half court-- something that we've abandoned somewhat save for the drive and kick, dribble drive offense.

We've been openly campaigning to see more pick and roll, pick and pop plays. Maybe a few back screen, baseline cuts that would help open things for our shooters Chan and David who were pretty much stand still, wait for the ball, duds in the 2014 FIBA World Cup tournament. Even if Chan and or David were to not receive the ball, just having them run around the weak side would be big since opponents will have to keep an eye out for them at all times.

Do feel free to tell us if we're wrong, but there were many instances in the 2014 FIBA World Cup wherein Gilas looked more like a souped up Rain or Shine squad than the old Gilas incarnations (which isn't bad, coming from an RoS die hard, but isn't good either-- dry spells, iso ball when nothing happens, Norwood being asked to take the hero ball shot, etc.).

Also, at some point, Junemar Fajardo needs to play more. Stay on the floor even. Hell, we all know that it almost took a miracle just to have the 6"9 giant suit up for Gilas, so why on earth are we not making the most of it and playing him more?

For all things Pingris and de Ocampo, Fajardo is the future and has proven that he can play alongside a naturalised center (Blatche). We wouldn't want him out there against the Korean's hybrid forwards, but against the taller teams who have Twin Towers in the block like Iran, Fajardo would be a perfect fit to finish the game beside Douthit.

We've come so far now, that a starting line-up of Lee, Norwood (for defense), de Ocampo, Fajardo, Douthit shouldn't be something off a fantasy squad. That team could actually compete given the right system (dribble drive won't work since Norwood can't shoot, but give them something more basic and they'll be alright).

And the way we performed in Spain, if we are to go that route forever, then we should've brought maybe two more extra point guards who can score. Alex Cabagnot being one. Maybe a Mark Barroca or JVee Casio (whoever has no more drama from his mother team).

Hopefully, we're ready for the 2014 Asian Games and have learned a lot from our Spanish campaign. PUSO is something best left for the players. For the coaches and every one else, UTAK is what we need to keep on winning.

#LabanPilipinas