June Mar Fajardo and Gilas Pilipinas are fast learning how to deal with bigs who can shoot from the outside. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/ELVIS ŽALDARIS
When the lone naturalized player’s spot in its roster likely boiling down to either Utah Jazz star Jordan Clarkson or Barangay Ginebra resident import Justin Brownlee, Gilas Pilipinas showed that it was turning a page in its playbook.
Gone were the days when the immediate candidate for a naturalized player would be a big man to help the Philippines deal with ceiling problems.
That meant local bigs will have bigger roles. And coach Chot Reyes is getting a clear look at what needs to be done — especially with the most important big man in his pool.
“This was all part of the process,” Reyes said of Gilas Pilipinas’ loss to a Lithuania selection squad, 90-80, in a tuneup match on Tuesday in Kaunas, Lithuania.
“We wanted to play a team who has five shooters because we wanted to see how we could get June Mar [Fajardo] defending ball screens, pick and pops against shooters. June Mar had 10 points in the first half and his man had 20 points, it’s something we need to work on,” Reyes added.
Fajardo, who scored 13 points in the game, is a six-time Most Valuable Player in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and is the league’s most dominant local player. But in the way basketball is played nowadays outside the PBA, Fajardo seems like an anachronism, a throwback to the days of post heavy hoops.
Finding balance
June Mar Fajardo and Gilas Pilipinas are fast learning how to deal with bigs who can shoot from the outside. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/ELVIS ŽALDARIS
And Reyes hopes to help the San Miguel Beer star adapt — and find ways for the team to help out.
“It’s now up to us to come into practice and figure out ways to defend when we have a situation like that when there’s a three-point shooting outside big man on the opposing team. Those are the things we wanted to learn. We knew that this is the kind of player that we were going to face, that June Mar is going to face. It’s not only June Mar, it has to be everyone helping out and rotating to stop that,” Reyes said.
Lithuania forward Tomas Zdanavicius erupted for 25 points, including a six-of-seven three-point shooting, to lead the eight-man selection of the host country.
After losing three of their five tuneup games, Reyes has an idea of what needs to be done as the national team prepares for the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) World Cup that the Philippines will cohost with Japan and Indonesia.
“We have to find that balance where we are scoring well and defending well. Part of the process. Obviously, we’re not happy with the result but I am very satisfied with the learning and the lessons that we continue to pick up,” he said.
Tinker with lineup
Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/ELVIS ZALDARIS.
“At the start, we had some good looks that were not falling. That’s why they were able to get an early run. But also this team did not really pressure hard on passing lanes. They defended in a different way, which is also one of the things that we need to learn how to attack teams that defend this way. Offense wasn’t our problem in this ball game, it was really defense.”
Reyes had a chance to tinker with his lineup, especially up front, where there is a more pressing need for an upgraded performance. He used a different combination for a while with Japeth Aguilar at power forward and Brownlee at small forward as center Ange Kouame joined the team after his graduation at Ateneo.
But he believes that this kind of result will only make his team better.
Gilas schedule
“Obviously, it didn’t work because we got off to, what, 17-1 start. But the good thing is that’s part of why we’re here to figure out different combinations, different lineups and to know that there’s no nothing more powerful knowledge than experience,” he said. “So now that we have that first-hand experience the players should now all know better. That’s part of the learning process and the lessons that we came here to learn.”
Gilas Pilipinas will open its campaign against Angola on Aug. 25 at Philippine Arena and it is slated in Group A with Dominican Republic and Italy.
Vytautas Sulskis was also instrumental for Lithuania with 19 points and nine rebounds. Justinas Ramanauskas scored 12 points and dished out nine assists, while Rokas Pocius added 10 markers and nine boards.
Brownlee had 20 points and seven rebounds while Jamie Malonzo added 14 points, nine rebounds and six steals. Kiefer Ravena had 10 points and four assists.