Tab hopes cadets will ‘grow up fast’

GILAS practices have perked up since the arrival of Andray Blatche, the naturalized big man who may end up leading a team of young hotshots in the future. TRISTAN TAMAYO/INQUIRER.net

WITH the Gilas Pilipinas program to quit using an all-pro team for international tournaments after the Olympic Qualifier next month, national coach Tab Baldwin has just one wish: “Those young boys better grow up pretty fast.”

The new format of the governing Fiba with regard to the qualifying tournaments for the 2019 World Cup basically gives no time for PBA players to suit up for the National team, and Baldwin said that reverting back to the old Gilas program now looms as “the best option.”

College stars like Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Ferrer, Mac Belo and even NBA D-League regular Bobby Ray Parks are being eyed to make up the local core of the Gilas cadet pool, which will be reinforced by a naturalized player.

Home-and-away games among countries seeing action in a hectic qualifying schedule have been drawn up to highlight the new Fiba format, giving the Philippines no choice but to abandon the old practice of tapping its stars for national chores.

“I think that it (Cadel program) is necessary,” Baldwin told reporters after practice on Wednesday with what could be the last all-pro national squad. “The Fiba calendar is not going to allow any other approach, at least any other quality approach.”

The Gilas program actually started with something like this in 2010, when the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas enlisted Serbian Rajko Toroman to handle a bunch of local collegiate stars that played with foreign-based amateurs like Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter.

It was only in 2012 when the Gilas program asked the PBA for help and won the Jones Cup in Taipei before finishing second to Iran in the Asian World Cup qualifiers in Manila the following year.

Baldwin is in the process of whipping up this team to fighting form as the Philippines shoots for a berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

That qualifier, slated July 5 to 11 at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, will have the Filipinos needing to beat either France and Tony Parker and New Zealand in the first round to advance to the crossover Final Four, where the qualifiers from the other group composed of Canada, Turkey and Senegal await.

“(PBA) players are just not going to be available (under the new format),” Baldwin said. “This is the most ideal solution that’s there when you look around.”

Baldwin, who has a five-year pact with the SBP to handle the national team, likes the idea of pros sprinkled in during tough tournaments.

“I still have a funny feeling that when it comes to times to play games, you will see some mixture of PBA players and cadets,” he said. “I could be wrong, we may have that but we may not have access to that.

“(And) if we don’t, those young boys better grow up pretty fast.”