An uphill climb

The Beast, unleashed.
(Photo credit to the owner)

Here's a simple challenge for the everyday white collar, suit-wearing employee:

The most common and widely accepted way of tying a necktie is the everyday man's four-in-hand knot. You know it as your "go to" move when you're late for a meeting and don't really mind an uneven knot for as long as it looks like a God damn necktie tied around your neck. Did you know that there are 17 more ways (probably even more) to tie it? One of the more complicated ones is called the Christensen knot.

Now imagine entering a necktie-tying speed contest, versus natural Christensen knot users, while you only learned the blasted thing about a week ago.

The above scenario pretty much captures Gilas 3's current predicament, losing 2 games to unranked FIBA teams over in a pocket tournament in Estonia, somewhere in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. The first loss was to the Netherlands, 62-89, wherein Gilas 3 was pretty much made to look like a bunch of amateurs that have never organized correct basketball. The second was against host Estonia, 80-90, wherein Gilas 3 looked like they were able to adjust to some of the things that were going on but in reality it was more of the host country opting to sit their stars in the 4th quarter and take their "foot off the gas" so to speak.

This is going to be a process.

Only problem is, it can't be a long process as we are pressed for time. Today is August 22, which means that we have exactly a month and a day left to get everything together for the FIBA Asia tournament in Hunan, China (September 23 to October 3).

Here's what we learned so far in two games:

Positive

- Calvin Abueva is the team's best attack guard for the dribble drive offense. Even better than Jayson Castro since Abueva has a knack for keeping a close eye on wherever his shooter is (usually Dondon Hontiveros probably because of their Alaska familiarity). Basically, Castro is so used at being able to finish at the rim that he doesn't really think about passing. Abueva on the other hand works best in tight spots with arms, legs, hands all over him. So he doesn't panic and just kicks the ball out.

- Asi Taulava will be just fine as the weak side player to Blatche. He's hustling, moving his feet and throwing his weight around more than a Junemar Fajardo ever could.

- Matt Rosser IS FIBA Gabe.

- Andray Blatche, by himself, is the best big man in Asia. Iran doesn't have anyone to stop him (either too small or too slow). If Iran puts Haddadi on him, he'll just pull the Iranian giant out of the paint and run around him, dribbling behind his back for the easy finish. Only real challenge to him is if the other teams get a 6"11 legitimate NBA import as a naturalized player or if China's Yi Jianlian plays up to par. Which Yi can, but not sure if it's enough to stop Blatche.

- Troy Rosario should make the final cut, even if Marc Pingris is available. The kid rebounds like Pingris and scores like a Ranidel de Ocampo minus the post up game. Tenacious kid with a nose for the ball. Good hands too.

- Gary David looks a bit like the old Gary David and not an OLD Gary David. Hope it carries over all the way to September.

- Terrence Romeo is picking his spots, and is money with the 2 ball jumpshot.

- JC Intal has the right approach. He's taking shots. He isn't deferring. He's not making shots, but he's taking them and we're okay with it because we know he can make them. He's actually the best shooter of all the wings we brought - better than Abueva, Norwood and Rosser.

Negative

- Andray Blatche is fat.

- Sonny Thoss is slower than Greg Slaughter which is saying a lot.

- Jayson Castro still can't play real point guard. Only options are to drive, shoot the 3 or turn the ball over. Doesn't know when to take control of the team and often goes back to his natural scorer's instincts. Watch him play DDO, when he commits to the drive, he never looks to pass or has a backup plan. Usually ends up in a forced shot or turnover when challenged.

- Where's the shooting? Castro and Blatche, at the moment, appear to be our best guns from the outside. This is bad. We expect Blatche to be double/ triple teamed in the FIBA Asia tournament, so our guys need to make shots.

- What swing? They sure as hell aren't running it at the moment.

- What dribble drive? Well, you can't really play DDO when the only option is to drive and force the shot because your shooters can't shoot.

- Asi Taulava can't play back to back games. He's 42 years old. And his primary back-up, Thoss, moves slower than he does.

- Moala Tautuaa is pabebe. Sorry, but he played in the match versus Estonia with the same tenacity, drive and passion of Willie Miller in a 20-point ass-whooping of a loss.

- Terrence Romeo needs to move forward, not side to side and dribble the air out of the basketball.

- Aldrech Ramos is softer than Japeth Aguilar.

We're pretty sure that the Gilas 3 coaching team are already aware of the Negatives and are looking for ways to address it. We haven't seen Ranidel de Ocampo yet, plus we're pretty sure that most of the guys aren't going full throttle due to injuries. Just a bit concerned with our wings-- they need to keep taking shots hit or miss so that they'll be more comfortable with it when the need arises.

Stop talking about guys who aren't on the roster.

#LabanPilipinas

#PUSO

#TIWALA