Gilas battles title favorite Canada in Jones Cup opener

Gilas Pilipinas team arrives Friday afternoon in Taiwan for the Jones Cup Invitational. Photo by Musong Castillo

TAIPEI – Gilas Pilipinas arrived in this progressive island confident of making heads turn in the 39th Jones Cup Invitational as a team of young talents carry the fight in this tournament the country shoots to win for the sixth time.

Using the core of the Cadet program, three amateurs and a Filipino-German the country knows practically nothing of, Gilas plunges into action against what many feel is the team to beat in the 10-team, nine-nation meet as the Filipinos clash against Canada 150 at Taipei Peace International Basketball Hall here.

“I really wish we drew them as our last game,” assistant coach Josh Reyes said just after touching down together with the rest of the team. “We could have had a chance to see them play first, like we did in 2013 (when the Filipinos beat the United States) when our strongest opponent was our last game.”

Tip off time is at 3 p.m. with the Filipinos, despite checking in at the Howard Hotel at Da’an District well over 5 p.m., still able to turn in an hour’s practice at the brand new venue.

Team Philippines plays nine games in as many days with its final assignment being Iran, the champion here in five of the last eight years. But the Iranian national side will be without its resident stars Hamed Haddadi and Nikha Bahrami, who have opted to stay home and rest for the Fiba Asia Championship in August.

And that now makes Canada the team to beat.

Canada 150 is a selection of players coming from that country’s pro league, the National Basketball League of Canada, and it will be handled by its reigning coach of the year, Kyle Julius.

Dallin Bachynski, a 7-footer, Dwayne Smith and gunslinger Deigo Kapelan, according to Gilas’ scouting reports, are the players the Philippine defense need to shut down.

The Philippines is actually the defending champion here, having swept the tournament last year with a Mighty Sports team loaded with imports that counted former NBA All-Rookie Team member Al Thornton.

This year, Gilas has tapped the services of Mike Myers as its only import. He is expected to just be a role player, the same way he is being utilised in practice.

Gilas is shooting to win for the second time, the first since that epic 2013 triumph, with this crew all playing in the Jones Cup for the first time.

Jimmy Alapag, now an assistant coach, is confident that this batch of Filipinos is ready to contend.

“With the talent that this team has, I’m confident that we can contend,” Alapag said. “Our guys can definitely play and we will make a lot of heads turn. We might not have come here with the (Jason) Castros, the (Ranidel) De Ocampos, the (Terrence) Romeos, and they will see a new breed of heroes for us.”

Keifer Ravena, Kobe Paras, Bobby Ray Parks and Christian Standhardinger make their international men’s debuts here and from among the members of coach Chot Reyes’ squad, they are the ones who are least scouted as they are all still not in the PBA.