Stand proud

Good job, Gilas 5.0
(Photo credit FIBA.com)

Though we were one of those who were quick to point out Gilas 5.0's mistakes on social media during the FIBA Asia Challenge Cup; calling the players out and sometimes even openly questioning the rotations, we will always be proud and respectful of the players and coaches from top to bottom.

We will leave the ass-kissing and lip-service to those who are too afraid to point out the wrongs, if only to protect their chances of one day becoming a professional writer/ commentator/analyst working inside the pro league. Here, all we want to share is the truth. So as harsh as some of our tweets sounded, none of it was made to attack any player personally-- only his game, and what he brought or did not bring to the table.

That being said, THANK YOU to Gilas coach Josh Reyes and his motley crew of amateur standouts: Mac Belo, Kevin Ferrer, Mike Tolomia, Ed Daquioag, CJ Perez, Roger Pogoy, Russel Escoto, Chris Javier, Carl Cruz, Von Pessumal, Alfonso Gotladera and Arnold Van Opstal.


Of the lot, Belo (26mpg/ 20ppg / 7rpg/ 1apg) proved to be the biggest star with the way he was able to slowly take control of the team on both ends. We don't remember any real plays called for Belo, only that he was always there to clean up after Tolomia (20/10/4/2) and the rest of his misfiring teammates. Sure, he would earn a few isolation plays here and there, but Coach Josh mostly ran the Dribble Drive Offense through Tolomia, Daquioag (18/10/3/2) and Perez (13/10/2/1).

There are a lot of things that were missing for Gilas 5.0, but mostly it came down to our guys being unable to get into any shooting rhythm-- Ferrer, Tolomia, Pogoy all barely scratched 20% from the 3-point arc. It's bad enough that our DDO slashers couldn't really muscle their way into the paint, but their kick-out options simply couldn't knockdown both contested AND open shots.

The what if's come to play: Kiefer Ravena could've been the leader on the court that was obviously too big a role for Tolomia to play. Ray Ray Parks' versatility would have been nice, since Ferrer pretty much decided that all he was going to do in the tourney was shoot threes, hit or miss. Jio Jalalon's on-court decision-making would've been big in the many times that the Gilas offense was in disarray. And finally, just having a naturalized center be it Andray Blatche or Marcus Douthit, would've been big.

Oh, Tab Baldwin too.

Still, as far as effort is concerned, we are happy with what they brought to Iran. Coach Josh was correct in saying that his guys fought hard, though not as brilliantly as we would have wanted. Even our new favorite guy to "bash," Van Opstal, did what he could when he was on the court.

Watching Van Opstal was ugly, because he legitimately looked like a guy who forgot to play basketball after a year-long hiatus, but he was out there scratching, clawing and setting the ugliest looking picks we have ever seen.

So what is next for Gilas 5.0?

Well, we are all still waiting for FIBA to release their new basketball calendar so the chips will start falling only after that has been made public. The PBA has been saying all the right things about helping the Gilas program so here's to hoping that they continue down that road.

Your thoughts on Gilas 5.0? @kilikilishot on Twitter