Marcus Douthit. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
FOSHAN, China—Wherever he is around the globe, it’s safe to say that Marcus Douthit is keeping tabs of Philippine basketball.
He knows what happened in the PBA very recently when San Miguel Beer came from being the seventh seed to win the Commissioner’s Cup over top-ranked TNT. And he certainly knows what took place Saturday night with Gilas Pilipinas at the start of the Fiba World Cup here.
“Chris McCullough should be the next naturalized big to carry gilas!! My thoughts!!,” Douthit tweeted through his twitter account @DouthitMarcus an hour ago, obviously knowing what kind of a talent McCullough is and what talent will get the job done for the Filipinos internationally.
Chris McCullough. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
McCullough, a first round Draft pick in the NBA, came to San Miguel late in the elimination round and rescued the Beermen from a 2-5 start to barely make the playoffs.
Displaying a well-rounded game that never wavered even against the talented Terrence Jones of the KaTropa, McCullough, who averaged 32.4 points, 15.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.4 blocks in 16 games for the Beermen, eventually won the hearts of local basketball fans with his sheer determination.
Obviously, Douthit is one of them.
Douthit was Gilas’ naturalized center for quite a number of years and helped in the many achievements of the young program, including a second place finish in the Fiba Asia Championship to Iran at Mall of Asia Arena in 2013.
Gilas came from behind to nip South Korea in the Final Four only to bow to Hamed Haddadi and the Iranians in the title game. Douthit played sparingly in the last two games because of a leg injury.
Andray Blatche took over from Douthit shortly thereafter and also helped Team Philippines to a silver medal finish, this time behind the Chinese in 2015 in Changsha where the Filipinos tilted the balance of the tournament with a win over Iran in the earlier rounds.
The former Brooklyn Net and nine-year NBA veteran played a key role in that win over the Iranians as he took Haddadi to school.
But after playing without “puso,” as he admitted on his own twitter post a couple of days back, Blatche is being blamed in large part for the 108-62 loss to Italy last Saturday.