Baldwin brings in Gilas ‘taxi squad’

Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

LESS than two days away from Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Manila, Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin brought in his “taxi squad” for the team’s practice session at Mall of Asia Arena.

“We want to use what we call a ‘taxi squad’ in the States to learn some of France’s stuff and try to execute it,” he said in a short chat on Sunday.

Meralco forward Jared Dillinger, TNT big man Mo Tautuaa and Gilas cadets Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Ferrer and Von Pessumal all lent a hand to Gilas and participated in the team’s training.

Gilas assistant coach Nash Racela shared that more cadets could have joined, but only these handful of players were available for the day.

“We appreciate the guys coming in and it’s important to help us out. Everybody’s on board and it’s great,” Baldwin said.

With these guys on hand, the American-Kiwi coach eyes to pinpoint the specifics which could help the national team prepare for its game against France on Tuesday.

“We’re looking at France in the video and on the court. All of our attention is on how we could counter the strengths of the team and the systems that they run. That’s what we’re doing,” he said.

Aside from mimicking the nuances of Les Bleus, Baldwin also sees the inclusion of the five players as a much needed boost as he hopes to conserve the team’s energy in time for the Manila OQT.

“It takes a little bit of the energy burden off of our team and it gives us a different group of guys to face. We can also talk about the strengths of the players we’re facing so we could better prepare for France,” he said.