All In

There is more to these two words than just being a new marketing campaign for a local mobile network just so happens to be footing the bill for Gilas 3. These words, though short and straight to the point, reflect how every living Filipino basketball fan- regardless of PBA allegiance, should feel about the Gilas 3 team that is on its way to China for the coming FIBA Asia tournament.

Can the media do us all a big favor and stop featuring outsiders? Can they please stop quoting those who chose not to play for flag and country owing to whatever? We do not care about them, they will not be playing this September 23. They are nuisances, collectively, since they chose not to be part of the task at hand. They chose not to speak up, they chose to sit this one out, and even if we have every right to crucify and chastise them, the mere fact that we aren't, should be enough. So please, we do not care if Junemar Fajardo wants to visit the team in their final practices. Or if L.A. Tenorio, Marcio Lassiter and even Paul Lee get the green light.

The focus should be on Gilas 3.

Jayson Castro, Gabe Norwood, Marc Pingris and Ranidel de Ocampo are what remains of Gilas 2. Back for another year of service are Dondon Hontiveros, Sonny Thoss and Asi Taulava. Newcomers are Terrence Romeo, Matt Rosser, JC Intal and Calvin Abueva. On the reserve are Gary David and Troy Rosario. Of course, powering us is naturalized center Andray Blatche who is staying true to his commitment to the team by playing and trying his best to get in shape even after all the challenges he faced just this year.

All eyes should deservingly be on them.

This is perhaps the tallest, most athletic and evenly spread out team we've ever assembled. We brought in a lot of wings who can do so much on the floor, clearly to build around the exploits of Blatche and Castro.

Think about it.

Blatche loves to play iso, so the best thing is to put guys in there who are tall, athletic and versatile on the switch to provide whatever is lacking. Blatche isn't big on defense, so that's where Norwood and Rosser come in. Rebounding? Taulava, Thoss, Pingris. Crazy? Abueva has him covered and then some.

While we are a bit concerned about the three ball, since Hontiveros is the only pure shooter we brought along, we see Castro, Romeo and Intal all chipping in from time to time. We actually don't see Gilas 3 engaging teams from the outside, but from wearing them down inside and playing physical much like Coach Tab Baldwin's New Zealand team was.

And that's another area where we have grown to appreciate Coach Tab.

He's not trying to make us play like the Koreans and shoot 3s. He's not asking us to play smart, precision basketball like the Iranians. No, he's letting Gilas 3 (so far) play Pinoy helter skelter basketball with a little educated tweaks here and there to make the game simpler for everyone.

We are literally just two days away from the start of the FIBA Asia tournament. This is it folks. We aren't looking too far ahead, hoping for an Olympic berth. But we believe in our hearts that this team, Gilas 3, is far better than its predecessors.

Win or lose, #TIWALA