MICHAEL PHILLIPS Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
As the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games draws nearer, reminders for Gilas Pilipinas to bring back the gold medal have begun to intensify.
Not that Michael Phillips minds.
“You know, it just brings things back to the will to win,” the Filipino-American La Salle standout told the Inquirer. “People would say it’s pressure but I feel it’s more pride and spirit.”
“We see the people [talk about it], the media, but it makes us want to get it back for them,” he added. “It’s really, really inspiring us.”
Phillips, the 20-year-old Gilas program newcomer, is looking like a logical pick for the Final 12 that will jet to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and carry out the task of reclaiming the basketball gold the country used to hold—and flex—for over three decades.
A 6-foot-8 banger who can knock down shots from the perimeter, Phillips said he has been prepping himself by soaking up everything that he can from Christian Standhardinger, another prolific big man who is making a return to the national pool.
“His leadership, his physicality and motor. His timing is just impeccable. He doesn’t rush things and he knows how to use his body, especially when attacking the basket,” the youngster said of the Barangay Ginebra star, who was recently crowned the PBA Governors’ Cup Best Player of the Conference.
“I thought I had him pinned here at the [three-point line], but he took me all the way to the basket. Man, I don’t know how he does it,” Phillips said with a hearty laugh.
“I’m trying to study him, especially his patented spin move—it’s really cool to see it in person,” he said.
The Gilas brain trust is expected to make two final cuts from its 15-man talent pool that also features CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Chris Newsome, Aaron Black, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Chris Ross, Mason Amos, Marcio Lassiter, Arvin Tolentino, Jeremiah Gray, Jerom Lastimosa and Phillips’ older brother Ben.
Standhardinger and naturalized Filipino Justin Brownlee will lead the squad.
“Judging from the list of players, now it is better—even without players in the Japanese League. In fact, it could be better than the 2019 (champion roster),” Bambang Asdianto Pribadi, Indonesia’s data analyst said in a report by national broadsheet Kompas.
Saddled with a manpower crisis of its own, the reigning champion will be pinning its hopes for a repeat on naturalized players Anthony Beane Jr. and Lester Prosper.
Indonesia’s core from that golden Hanoi run is gone. Derrick Michael Xzavierro and Marques Bolden are both out of shape, while Abraham Grahita and Brandon Jawato are neck deep in B.League duties, according to media reports.
“Beane will help this team at the SEA Games and in the future. He’s a great player. We need someone who can lead the team and help young players,” said Indonesia coach Milos Pejic.