Gilas Pilipinas should soar on ‘wrong foot’

Coach Tad Baldwin of the Philippine basketball team did not come by accident. He was a product of necessity. He was called in to correct and bring order to the Gilas Pilipinas program.

However, Baldwin himself had said he did not see anything wrong with Gilas.

He was right—and also wrong.

Baldwin might have wanted to say Gilas was strong and healthy.

Sorry, but from the look of things, Gilas needs more than a just talented coach; it needs a doctor, a surgeon, no less.

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It’s like this. As soon as former national coach Chot Reyes steered the Gilas squad to the 2014 Fiba World Cup by finishing second to Iran in the Fiba Asia tournament last June, this reporter told him he would have to correct a basic deficiency in his team if they were to go far on the world stage.

The Gilas squad members, save maybe for a couple of guards, were playing practically with only one effective foot, the right; unlike the Chinese and the Koreans who cover the court with the eminent use of both legs.

“I acknowledge that,” Reyes said, but he next turned to what he felt was his more urgent need: A tall, magnificent foreign reinforcement.

“Thank you, but I won’t be going to Spain without a seven-footer,” Reyes vowed.

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Reyes did get his wish in the person of NBA veteran Andre Blatche but, at the same time, the national team was often a step behind during the campaign, with most of its members hobbled down by a weak side, no thanks to their inability to take off on the so-called wrong foot.

“You can’t win a game on a wrong foot,” former national coach Joe Lipa blurted upon being assessed of his team’s unstable footing.

“Never heard about that,” national team coach Tim Cone brushed off the suggestion during the 1998 Asian Games campaign in Bangkok.

Both Lipa and Cone failed in their respective campaigns.

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This is not to say they could’ve succeeded if their players had managed to play with the effective use of both legs, or with the help of the so-called wrong foot.

But they could’ve performed a lot better.

For one, didn’t Michael Jordan take off on the “wrong foot” to convert that unforgettable winning jumpshot against Utah in the 1993 NBA Finals?

Kobe Bryant continues to mesmerize by launching his aerial attempts off his left, the so-called wrong foot.

By the way, the great Carlos Loyzaga, coming to the aid of this reporter who got savaged by a revered senior sportswriter for glorifying the “wrong foot,” confirmed they could’ve not succeeded in the 1954 Rio de Janeiro World Basketball Championship if they had been all “single-footed soldiers out in the field.”

Loyzaga claimed that, just like him, all his teammates had been immersed in football, which accounted for their even-footedness.

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Of course, coach Baldwin need no longer call in a surgeon to cure or correct this deficiency.

There are other methods away from the football field that can introduce even-footedness among limited basketeers, like our very own national cagers.

One tried and tested method is by undergoing martial arts training, like kung fu, which has evidently helped Chinese cagers grow wings on their heels.

It’s very hard and quite intricate, but if coach Baldwin is interested, he may text or call 0917-8351226, and we would be very willing to provide other details and tips.

The wrong foot could always make a world of difference, mainly for Filipinos, out in the international basketball battlefield.