The Learning Curve

"Yo Jim, who's the kid with the blonde hair?"
(Photo credit to the owner)

First and foremost, it would be very wise indeed to temper expectations.

If you've been following both this blog and our Twitter page @kilikilishot, you'd probably crucify us for asking Gilas 3 to try and win big now in the ongoing 2015 William Jones Cup (and continue to do so en route to FIBA Asia). But, since this is the blog behind the Twitter account and here we are allowed to put more thought in what he type on the keyboard, we should all take a step back and belive in the process-- even if it means losing more games from here until September 23, when the FIBA Asia tournament commences.

Terrence Romeo, Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, Gary David, Dondon Hontiveros, Calvin Abueva, JC Intal, Gabe Norwood, Matt Rosser, Aldrech Ramos, Marc Pingris, Ranidel de Ocampo, Moala Tautuaa, Troy Rosario, Sonny Thoss and Asi Taulava.

Those are the guys that we brought to Chinese Taipei for the Jones Cup, with naturalized center Andray Blatche attending to some personal issues back in the United States. Head coach Tab Baldwin has been tinkering with his line-up so far, Yeng Guiao-style, in hopes of developing on-court chemistry among certain players who you would otherwise not expect to even look one another in the eye.

As of this writing, Gilas is playing its 3rd game in as many days, now versus a very physical Russian squad. Coach Tab opted to rest Gilas 2 mainstays David, Norwood, Castro and Pingris which was first seen as a calculated move if only to rest them-- but now it seems as if Coach Tab really wanted to rest the veteran guys so that the young ones can get a real beating, literally, from Russia.

Hard fouls, physical plays and a lot of Euro-flopping.

And you know what? Our boys responded with CAlvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo and Matt Rosser taking charge before veterans Asi Taulava and Ranidel de Ocampo went to work and basically said "okay, that's enough." Basically, even in near-scuffles, this GIlas 3 team stood together and had one another's back. In one play, Romeo pretty much sold a call against a Russian, gave him something extra, and while the refs were looking elsewhere, Abueva came in from behind with a little nudge of his knee to that same fallen player.

What goes around, comes around, мой друг.

What have we learned so far?

Well, Romeo and Abueva are going to be just okay on the international level. Romeo has limited his dribble, while Abueva has (so far) kept his composure even in heated games. They're not only doing well, they're actually flourishing and leading the team on all fronts and giving it an entirely different identity from that of Gilas 2.

Gilas 2 with the Dribble Drive was systematic, one guy (Castro) is isolated and creates, with the rest either setting up for the kick out three or looking for the weak side rebound.

Nowadays, Gilas 3 is just attacking, relentlessly. Moving the ball to whoever looks like he has an advantage one on one, and if it's not there, will just keep moving it until they find that same guy (usually it's Romeo, Abueva, Castro and or de Ocampo) or any one who is remotely open.

Of course, you could also say that maybe that's the plan at the moment. To just let the players figure things out for themselves while working in the confines of the FIBA brand of basketball. We've seen glimpses of both the Swing and DDO, and even some Alaska/ Rain or Shine disciplines here and there, to which the players are responding quite well.

The question now is, how will Blatche fit in? Gilas 2 wasn't that "complicated" because the guys were already set in their positions-- PG who passes/ shoots 3s, SG who shoots, SF who plays the wings, PF who rebounds and Blatche iso-ball from the top.

This line-up has Romeo, who cannot be limited to being a catch and shoot guy. Abueva might have some trouble, but only on the offensive end since he needs a few dribbles to help his frontiers to the rim. The rest of the guys can play around Blatche-- Gilas 2 guys knows his game by now, while the rest of the young additions like Rosser, Rosario, Intal and Ramos aren't really the "alpha" types.

How Romeo adjusts to Blatche will be the deciding factor, IMHO.

Honestly, we don't mind if Gilas 3 doesn't win the 2015 Jones Cup. As long as the learning continues and we see more of these games wherein they root and pull for one another like brothers-in-arms instead of simply being a bunch of divas with separate agendas.

Oh, but we do hope that we can beat Iran. Always. Beat Iran.