Experts like to say that the quality of basketball in the Southeast Asian region has improved tremendously over the years and that the Philippines’ neighbors have gotten a better grasp of the game Filipinos treat almost as a religion.
Like Gilas Pilipinas, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are said to have tapped the services of naturalized players to strengthen the spots on the floor that homegrown talents cannot adequately man with polish.
The experts have fair warning to Gilas, long the lords of regional basketball: Don’t fall into the trap of overconfidence; caution also serves the gung-ho well.
When the country hosts the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) championship, an entry-level event the Philippines needs to win to reach the Fiba Asia tournament in Lebanon, on May 12 to 18 at Smart Araneta Coliseum, the pundits say it behooves Gilas to respect the opposition.
Upsets? These can happen, the analysts say, and that the fifth reincarnation of the Gilas quintet shouldn’t take the Malaysians, the Thais and the Indonesians lightly.
Well, don’t tell that to Ranidel de Ocampo, James Yap, Cyrus Baguio and Arwind Santos, blue-chip PBA stars who saw their fair share of national team action in the past.
“Don’t be surprised if we win games [in the Seaba] by 70 to 80 points,” says De Ocampo, the TNT KaTropa power forward who was part of the Gilas squad that saw action in the 2014 Fiba World Cup in Seville, Spain.
“It’s a hundred percent that we will win [the tournament],” predicts Baguio, a member of the 2009 Seaba team that qualified in Medan, Indonesia, before playing in the Asian Championship in Tianjin, China. “We’re still a lot better than [the rest in Southeast Asia].”
Yap, the national team gunslinger in that 2009 squad under coach Yeng Guiao, says he expects the Gilas five to play a lot stronger this time. “It has a balanced lineup and June Mar [Fajardo]’s maturity will help the team a lot in the shaded lane,” says the Rain or Shine stalwart.
Santos acknowledged that the rest of the teams in the region have shown marked improvement but says he has no doubts that Gilas’ newest batch is still vastly superior in every aspect of the game.
“Based on my experience playing in the Seaba, we can easily handle them,” says the 2013 PBA MVP who was a teammate of Yap and Baguio in the 2009 five. “We are still a lot stronger.”
National coach Chot Reyes has assembled a fresh crew of PBA pros backstopped by naturalized player Andray Blatche to make up Gilas Pilipinas 5.0, which plays its first official tournament next week shouldering the hopes of an entire nation.
In that squad, apart from Fajardo and the 6-foot-10 center Blatche, are veterans Jason Castro, Terrence Romeo, Calvin Abueva, Japeth Aguilar, Troy Rosario and team rookies Raymond Almazan, Allein Maliksi, Matthew Wright, Roger Pogoy and Jio Jalalon.
“They’re such a talented team,” says Chris Ross, San Miguel’s MVP point guard who deserves a spot in the national five. “They’re unbeatable.”
But, is the composition of the national five for this Seaba tourney an overkill? Coach Ariel Vanguardia of Phoenix Petroleum thinks so.
“Definitely an overkill,” says Vanguardia, who got his PBA break after winning an ABL championship with the Westports Malaysia Dragons. “Only Thailand is capable of coming within 20 points of us but that team is scared of the [full court] press. I’m sure coach Chot knows that.”
De Ocampo and Baguio don’t see it as such, even though their prognoses are one-sided in favor of the home team.
“We have a very motivated, determined team that will play their best in front of our countrymen,” De Ocampo says. “I would have the same mind-set if I was [still playing for Gilas].”
The Philippines usually sends teams made up of semi-pro and collegiate standouts to play in the Seaba—and they have gotten the job done with aplomb. “We have things to prove to them (fans) that we are still untouchable in the region,” says Baguio, who had several highlight reel plays in the 2009 Asian championship against Japan.
Reyes sees the need to have the most cohesive team available as Gilas endeavors to make the main draw of the 2019 World Cup in China.
De Ocampo, a member of the four previous Gilas teams, counting the one that finished second to Iran in the memorable 2013 Fiba Asia in Manila, has absolutely no doubt that the Filipinos are still a class above the rest in the region.
“We are also improving,” he says. “We will be well-represented [by this Gilas team] in whatever tournament they play in.”
Adds Baguio: “It’s just a matter of how big the margins will be.”