Jayson Castro. Photo from Fiba.com
CHANGSHA CITY, China – Norman Black has seen so much basketball in his life that you’ll believe it when he gives a certain player a certain label.
“Jason Castro is the best point guard in Asia,” Black, a member of the Gilas coach staff, told the Inquirer in a chat after his former point guard at Talk ‘N Text in the PBA torched Iran with 26 points in an upset 87-73 victory in the Fiba Asia Olympic Qualifier here.
READ: Bahrami chalks up first Iran loss as birth pains under new coach
“Those players who defended him – (Mahdi) Kamrani and the No. 4 guy (Sous) Mashayekhi) can defend,” Black said. “And he (Castro) just….whew, blew past them like they weren’t there. He’s great.”
Castro’s performances here, as far as Black is concerned, cement the Mythical Team citation he received in the 2013 edition in Manila.
READ: Gilas shocks mighty Iran
And the good thing about it as far as the Philippines is concerned – which is scary for the rest of the field – is that the 6-foot dynamo out of Pampanga is just starting to scratch his potential.
Head Gilas coach Tab Baldwin, though, wants Castro to be known by another label.
“There’s a person inside of every basketball player, and I think, in Jason’s career, that person has been almost totally subservient as a player in a sense, that he didn’t know who Jason was as a player,” Baldwin told international reporters.
READ: Gilas Pilipinas dumps India, sweeps Fiba Asia 2nd round
“I told him in one of the previous games that ‘you just need to understand that when you lead, people will follow you,” Baldwin said. “There are a lot of times that potential leaders don’t have the confidence to lead because they think people won’t follow.”
“They will follow Jason, and he has started to (lead) at Gilas.”
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