For the first time in years, the FIBA Asia Cup was a non-qualifier of any major international world event.
In the past, it is considered as a qualifying event for either the World Cup or the Olympics, but with the new four-year cycle in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), a six-window home and away format was arranged by organizers leading to the 2019 World Cup.
Which is why the FIBA Asia Cup, formerly known as the Asian Basketball Confederation and later on changed to FIBA Asia Championship, has become nothing more than just a bragging rights for teams in the region.
The Philippines sent a formidable team yet the players were having difficulty establishing chemistry, particularly on the defensive end as they didn’t have much time to train together due to their commitments from their respective mother teams in the PBA. Gilas Pilipinas, which finished runner-up the last two stagings of the event, lost to Korea and host Lebanon, knocking our national team out of the medal race.
Gilas Pilipinas is sending a different set of players to play in the Southeast Asian Games and as early as Saturday, Fil-German Christian Standhardinger left the team playing in the FIBA Asia Cup to join the young national team headed by second generation players Kiefer Ravena, Ray Parks and Kobe Paras.
Looking at the bigger picture, Gilas Pilipinas had already identified a pool of players going to participate in the FIBA Asia Cup, Jones Cup and the Southeast Asian Games. These players can train together and can be pulled out of the tournament based on the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed by the board of governors upon conferring with their respective principals and the officials of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, the country’s governing body in basketball.
But a new MoA is needed in order for Gilas Pilipinas to prepare for the six-window event leading to the World Cup beginning this November. That’s about three months from now and what the national team needs is to have a clear cut agreement which will allow players from Gilas Pilipinas to train whole year round.
Can they do it?
Prior to the start of the FIBA Asia Cup, a MoA was signed both by the PBA and the SBP, which would allow Gilas players to train — 30 days for the Cadets and 15 days for the veteran players.
That initial agreement never pushed through because of the fact that the FIBA Asia Cup is no longer a qualifying event for any of the major tournaments we’re targeting.
Now that the home and away tournament is fast approaching, it would only be ideal for players from Gilas Pilipinas to train longer to establish better cohesion, particularly on the defensive end. It was noticeable during the Korea loss that the Philippines didn’t have much problem offensively, but had a difficult time figuring out a way to stop their long-time rivals from torching them from beyond the arc and slowing down their pick and roll game.
We have three months to prepare, but when will the players become available and be allowed by their mother teams to train together remains to be seen. We cannot wait for the PBA season to end, which would be until October before our national team players train together.
The first home and away tournament in November is just the first of the six stops.
After November, the next tournament will be in July next year all the way to the 2019 World Cup.
FIBA’s new calendar will definitely affect all the leagues around the world that even China and the USA were forced to adjust as well as powerhouse teams from Europe.
But the new calendar could also allow Gilas Pilipinas to train for a longer period once the PBA adjusts its calendar. It is likely the league will open in December, right after the first leg of the home and away.
Can Gilas Pilipinas train whole year round? How about letting all the members of the Gilas pool to train whole year round once a week and in between break, workout daily?
If that’s what it takes for the Philippines to go back to the world stage, I believe this ultimate sacrifice is worth doing.
Rey Joble has been a sportswriter for years, and has been covering the PBA games for more than a decade. He is a member of the PBA Press Corps and Philippine Sportswriters Association, the oldest journalism group in the country.
