Give And Go
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
The final composition of Gilas Pilipinas seeing action at the FIBA Basketball World Cup beginning later this week has been announced; an interesting mix of veteran and young players which this space cannot wait to see perform at the much-anticipated hoops spectacle.
Following the team’s final tune-up game on Sunday against the visiting Adelaide 36ers, the country’s basketball federation — the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas — unveiled the 12 players that will represent the Philippines in the World Cup.
Selected for this latest tour of duty for the Worlds were Japeth Aguilar, Raymond Almazan, Mark Barroca, naturalized player Andray Blatche, Robert Bolick, June Mar Fajardo, Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, CJ Perez, Roger Pogoy, Kiefer Ravena and Troy Rosario.
The 12 were chosen from a pool of 19 players that included naturalized players Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle, Marcio Lassiter, Beau Belga, Matthew Wright and Poy Erram as well as Filipino-American National Basketball Association guard Jordan Clarkson.
Looking at the final roster of Gilas, there is no denying that the team is going for experience in competitions like the World Cup while also infusing some young blood in preparation for the future.
Five players from the 2014 team that saw action in the World Cup in Spain are back, namely, Blatche, Fajardo, Norwood, Lee and Aguilar, while stalwarts from Gilas’ Qualifier bid Rosario, Pogoy, Barroca, Almazan and Ravena are also part of the squad.
The only new players in the team are Perez and Bolick, who for all indications would be among the faces of the Gilas program moving forward.
The team has no bona-fide shooters from the outside in the mold of a Lassiter and Wright, who got the injury bug in the lead-up which prevented them from being part of the team, but I think the squad could manage with proven scorers like Lee, Ravena, Blatche, Pogoy, Bolick and Perez who have it in them to get it done in its fold.
Height has always been a problem for the Philippines in international basketball wars and the same could be experienced in this one.
However, what I like with the “bigs” that we have in this team is that mobility is going their way, which should allow them to keep in step with their counterparts from the other teams and even pose problems of their own, especially with their ability to hit from the outside.
We had some success with such makeup back in 2014 with Ranidel de Ocampo and Mark Pingris playing and I do not see why it cannot be achieved as well this time around.
Defensively this team is sound at different fronts.
I like the inclusion of Perez, which I actually batted for to be included in the team in an earlier column piece, as his tremendous motor should be of help for the team, particularly on the defensive end.
Barroca, Bolick, Ravena, Pogoy and Norwood are no pushovers as well when it comes to defense, which bodes well for the team.
The team’s preparation, or lack thereof, is a concern as I am sure if the team had its way it would have wanted to have a far longer time to prepare.
But under Coach Yeng Guiao the team seemingly made the most of what it had on its hands, and still continuing to fine-tune its game before they fly to China to compete.
Just few more days and Gilas will stake its claim on the big stage. It is not going to be easy for sure, but then again it is the World Cup and nothing is walk in the park on that level.
So to Gilas, all the best and make the country proud. Laban lang Pilipinas!
Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld reporter covering the Sports beat.
