Dare to dream

Bring him in
(Photo credit: Rappler.com)

There is reason to believe in Gilas Pilipinas and its Coach Tab Baldwin other than blind fanaticism or patriotism.

With 65 calendar days left until the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (which opens in Manila from July 5 onwards), Coach Tab has finally submitted a 24-man pool to FIBA headquarters. We already know that 6"11 naturalized center Andray Blatche is a lock, and though we would have wanted maybe a name or two from the PBA to be added, the overall list sure as hell makes as believe that we could, at the very least, salvage even TWO preliminary wins (which in turn would allow us to advance into the next round, possibly even deeper).

Not a moral victory. Not a single win. But two wins. Three. Four. Maybe more.

Rio?

Anything is possible.


From the PBA we have: Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Ranidel de Ocampo, Ryan Reyes, Mo Tautuaa, Jayson Castro, Troy Rosario, L. A. Tenorio, Greg Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar, Marcio Lassiter, June Mar Fajardo, Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan, Paul Lee, Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, and Marc Pingris.

From the amateur ranks we have Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Ferrer, Mac Belo, R. R. Pogoy, Russell Escoto and, fresh from his stint in the NBA D-League, Bobby Parks, Jr.

The names above, arguably some of the best around, allows us to play several styles: we can go big, small, quick, with shooters, versatile wing defenders, you name it, we can form it.

If we want to go quick, then Tenorio, Castro, Romeo are locks.

If we want to go big, Fajardo, Aguilar and Slaughter.

Versatile? Bring in Norwood, Rosser and Parks, Jr.

Players who can adapt to multiple styles of basketball; that is the luxury that Coach Tab enjoys at the moment with this pool.

In all honesty, we would prefer Coach Tab to go big and versatile. Shooters will have their off nights, and bringing in a specialist will always come in handy-- but not at the expense of using two or more roster spots like Coach Chot Reyes did (hi Gary!).

PG Castro
SG Lassiter
SF Norwood
PF Blatche
C Fajardo

PG Tenorio
SG Abueva
SF de Ocampo
PF Aguilar
C Slaughter

SF Rosario
SG Ravena

Our first five speaks for itself, we suppose.

The second five, well, Tenorio has been pretty solid this season as compared to the oft-injured/ out-of-shape Lee and the notoriously fragile Reyes. We are going with Aguilar here, if only because Pingris is getting up there in age and to appease the Ginebra block-- management and fans. Slaughter needs to get more international exposure if only to toughen him up some more. Abueva and de Ocampo? No brainers.

Rosario is a solid pick who can play and guard the 3 and 4 spots versus a lot of the more versatile Euro forwards. Pingris was an option here still, but Rosario's got the height, range and youth cards. Ravena is our 12th man who can play BOTH guard positions while not giving up much size. Lee would've taken this spot, but as we said (being RoS fans) the guy is not in good shape. Parks Jr. and Rosser are real options here, but we already have Abueva and Norwood. Ravena's range and clutch gene could be big in small spurts. Romeo? He can score, he's a firecracker, but we would rather go with Ravena's efficiency and to help bridge this Gilas team with quite possibly, the cadet squad that is being formed.

All in all, it is a good time to be a Pinoy basketball fan.

#LabanPilipinas !