The Challenge

Big Mac attack
(Photo credit: philstar.com)

Just when our FIBA ranking went a spot higher (from world-ranked number 28 to 27), here we are shooting ourselves in the foot by not sending our best players (be it in the pros or the amateurs) to an international meet.

Ang kulit naman, oo.

An entirely new set of players will be donning Gilas Pilipinas jerseys in the FIBA Asia Challenge Cup in Tehran, Iran on September 9 to 18. While some are proud alumni of the Gilas Cadets squad, the Gilas 5 team is missing quite a lot: naturalized center Andray Blatche, proven PBA veteran stars, amateur standouts Bobby Parks Jr. and Kiefer Ravena, and more importantly—head coach Tab Baldwin.

Calling the shots this time around is young Josh Reyes, FEU assistant coach and also the son of Gilas 2 and 3 head coach Chot Reyes, with players: Mac Belo, Kevin Ferrer, Mike Tolomia, Russel Escoto, Roger Pogoy, Ed Daquiaog, Von Pessumal, Arnold Van Opstal, Jaymar Perez, Alfonzo Gotladera, Carl Bryan Cruz, and Chris Javier. Named as reserves are Almond Vosotros and Jonathan Grey.

We are basically looking at the 2016 edition of SMART Gilas I, minus a recognizable face and talent a.k.a. “Chris Tiu” in Ravena and a crème de la crème player a.k.a. “JVee Casio” in Parks. And even that team was smart (pardon the pun) enough to bring reinforcement (CJ Giles).

A lot of insiders claim that both Parks and Ravena opted to skip Gilas 5 duties in order for them to focus solely on their NBA dreams. While we are frustrated with their decision, we will support them nonetheless. On a personal note, we believe that since Gilas 5 is made up of amateurs, Parks and Ravena would have made more noise on the international scouting scene if they were on board. Regardless of Coach Josh’s FEU ties with 1/3 of the line-up, he would have most likely let the offense run through his best players; which in this case would have been Parks and Ravena.

Sigh.

Back to who is on board and where we stand at the moment.

We expect Gilas to run the Dribble Drive Offense, more than Coach Tab Baldwin ever did because it fits this team’s overall make-up. Tolomia, Daquiaog and Perez are proven slashers who can break down defenses while Ferrer, Pessumal, Roger Pogoy are outside specialists. The guys who will have to do a lot of heavy-lifting are the bigs since they will be tasked to help spread the floor by making jumpers and or finishing drop passes issued by Gilas’ penetrators. A lot of the burden will fall squarely on Opstal’s shoulders, which might be too much to ask since the 6”7 DLSU Green Archer did opt to sit out a full year to focus on whatever. Russel Escoto is nice and has good range, but Opstal's the more polished low-post big we have at the moment.

But arguably the most important piece to the Gilas’ puzzle is forward Mac Belo. How he is able to adjust to bigger competition will be the deciding factor if we are to truly stand a chance. As it stands, he can work both inside and outside, making him a “baby Ranidel de Ocampo” by skillset which sets him apart from everyone else. Versus East Asians he has an advantage when it comes to speed, but West (Middle East) Asians are another thing.

If Tolomia can do his thing, blitz his way to the hoop and make excellent judgment calls (unlike his UAAP Finals Game 3 performance and more like his usual game the entire season), Opstal controls the paint and forces help defenders out of the way, shooters knock down open baskets AND Belo does his usual double-double thing, then maybe Gilas 5 can make a run to the medal rounds after all.
Fortunately, we have been placed in a “lighter” group in the Challenge Cup eliminations and only need to make the Top Four to reach the knockout round.

In Group A, Gilas will be locking horns with Chinese Taipei and India. While the Taiwanese might be a problem owing to their veterans and possible reinforcement, there is still a window of hope for us to beat them with our Dribble Drive style of play. Against the Indians, they are still developing as a basketball country and save for maybe their height in the low post (where they legitimately have one solid player at par with the Middle Easterners) we can probably count that game as a win. Not an easy win, but a win.

In Group B, there’s China, Jordan and Kazakhstan; Group C has Iran, Qatar and Iraq; while Group D has Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Our picks to make the knockout round?

Gilas, Chinese Taipei, China, Kazakhstan, Iran, Qatar, SK and Japan.

The Challenge has been made; now it is time for our Gilas 5 to grow up and get the job done.