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(Photo credit: Rappler.com)

This was bound to happen.

Outgoing Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Manny V. Pangilinan recently confirmed that steps have already been taken to form a new Gilas Cadet squad akin to the SMART Gilas group of 2009. This is primarily due to the recent adjustments made by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to its basketball calendar.

See, the FIBA will no longer hold qualifying continental tournaments beginning 2017 and will instead hold a series of home-and-away matches in a year. This will basically make it difficult for the SBP and the Philippine Basketball Association (and any other professional league such as the NBA) to simply gather an All Star cast pre/mid/post season, send them to boot camp, and expect a medal finish.

They could, or we could, but just imagine how “empty” the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) would look if in a span of a three-conference season, the best players keep being pulled in and out of their mother teams who are not at all interested in a FIBA Gold Medal but more so on the TV-brand exposure that they can get whenever their team goes deep into the Playoffs.
Understand that the teams are not forking over millions of Pesos in today's economy, caring for players, coaches and staff, among other team expenses, free of charge.

“Eh si Player A naman galing sa kanila, international exposure din yun.”

Well, sure, but unless Player A has his team’s brand etched on a TV visible part of his body or jersey, then nope. Still no. Also, target market comes into play. Aanhin naman ng Phoenix Petroleum yung hilaw na international TV exposure e yung mga prangkisa nila mostly Southern Pinas pa nga lang? Iilang Pinoy ba may cable TV na makakanood ng FIBA matches na yan?

So here we are presented with SBP’s best case (tried and somewhat tested) scenario/solution: build an independent team out of Grade A amateur players, sign another naturalized reinforcement, give them proper training and hope for the best. No more “ayaw ipahiram/ injured/ may sakit ang kamag anak” drama.

So that’s problem number 1—addressed. Sort of.

Which leads us to problem number 2.

Since the SBP will be forming its own team, mostly out of expected 2016 PBA Draftees, this cannot sit well with the PBA in general.

The PBA thrives on young and fresh talent. New faces mean new fanbases: younger market, younger game, an end product that offers more action and is more thrilling. There is a reason why “veterans” play a certain way—a cautious way wherein they don’t always leave it out on the floor. They do it for longevity. For financial stability. The young guys who are coming in? They aren’t exactly better players than the veterans, but they are hungry. So they are willing to do more and risk life and limb, and in turn they are rewarded with the trust of the masses.

So if the SBP were to pull in guys like Kiefer Ravena, Bobby Ray Parks, Jr., Mac Belo, Chester MIKE Tolomia, Roger Pogoy and Russel Escoto off the table and sign them for two to three year contracts, that means the PBA is looking at a very thin 2016 PBA Draft. And in case you did not know, majority of the 2016 PBA Draft picks belong to Team San Miguel (San Miguel Beer, Ginebra, Star) which already has a fragile relationship with the SBP.

Which leads us to problem number 3.

The best players are in the PBA. Junemar Fajardo, God’s 6”10 gift to this basketball-crazy country, is in the PBA. There is no one like him in the amateur ranks, be it in the Cadets, the UAAP, NCAA, PBA D-League, or wherever.

If the SBP were to take this Gilas Cadet stand, and it just so happens to rub Team SMC the wrong way, or the PBA at that, then you are looking at Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter, Paul Lee, Jayson Castro and the like to no longer represent us in international meets. This could very well create a basketball divide (Team SMC vs Team MVP) that could very well get us suspended. Again.

“Eh gusto niyo kayo lang bubuo ng teams, yung mga picks na gusto naming hinarang niyo, e di bahala kayo sa buhay ninyo.”

Or

“We don’t need the PBA.”

Remember that?

We do. Gilas I thought they could do it alone, but in the end had to ask for some help from the PBA by way of Asi Taulava, Sol Mercado, Kelly Williams, Ranidel de Ocampo and Jimmy Alapag. And when push finally came to shove, it was the PBA guys who played more minutes than the young Gilas core. They didn’t get the job done, but it was pretty obvious that had we sent more PBA guys, things would’ve been a little different. The next incarnations of the Gilas unit proved that.

Should the SBP ask the PBA to basically alter its calendar completely? We haven’t even seen, read or heard how it is going to go.

Or maybe, just maybe, the PBA could start adopting FIBA rules completely; so all the players are indoctrinated to that style of play right away if they haven’t already. Perhaps continue with a Gilas Cadet squad, and have them play as a guest team on a non-fixed basis. They’ll play in the conferences, wins and losses versus them will count in the standings, but the Gilas team, even if they go undefeated, will not advance into the Playoffs or Finals. Just the elims.

That way, there is familiarity with the system. All teams know how Gilas works, and the players will be able to recognize the system even if they are not part of the team (re: scouting).

And in the end, when there’s a FIBA tournament to be played, the Gilas unit can be pulled out, and PBA players can be requested for. Same set-up: maybe draw up a wish list of  maybe 5 to 10 PBA guys and see if the teams will release them or not. If the PBA releases 10 guys, then it’s up to the coach to either bring them all in and cut 10 guys off his Gilas roster, or trim that 10 guys down and see what happens.

If you ask us, forming a Gilas cadet squad is basically a quick fix to address the current predicament that we are in. But if we are looking to really build a competitive team, then the SBP, we, will need to tap into the PBA still.

Your thoughts? @kilikilishot