Baldwin moves past Gilas’ injury woes: ‘It’s reality’

Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin talking to Paul Lee. Photo by Randolph B. Leongson

Paul Lee begging off the Gilas Pilipinas may be a bummer, but coach Tab Baldwin isn’t going to dwell on the absences which has haunted the national team.

“I’m not gonna sit around crying over spilled milk. It’s reality. It happens every single year,” he said. “Hardly ever in my career have I gone into any season or campaign with a fully healthy team, so you know, it’s part and parcel of being in sports, professional sports, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Lee will miss the buildup for the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournaments here in July due to his still injured left knee and officially informed Baldwin of his withdrawal before Tuesday’s morning practice at Meralco Gym.

“Paul is out and that’s a tragedy for Paul,” the stern coach said. “He’s had so many problems with his knees, he’s had so many problems with his body. We said a special prayer for him that he can get those things right. We all saw what he’s capable of doing in the Finals.”

“As for Gilas, that’s a misfortune for us because I just said to him we can certainly use his skill set and the way he was playing in the Finals, I think he would be an asset for the team, but we don’t have it.”

Lee, the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals MVP, joined Greg Slaughter and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser in the injured list.

But Baldwin refuses to let the bad news dampen what was otherwise a good training session for the Gilas Pilipinas with the likes of Marcio Lassiter and Gabe Norwood back in harness.

“We certainly don’t want a negative issue to be the story of the day,” he said. “I feel good about our training today. I thought it was very positive and I expect to keep getting positive training sessions, keep getting positive messages and we got to get Jeff (Chan) healthy and we got to get Andray (Blatche) in.”

Baldwin is hopeful that Lee can recover fully in no time.

“We just wish him the best. He’s a fallen brother and we hope that he gets back on his feet as soon as possible, and he gets to full health,” he said. “As for Gilas, we’ll move on.”