It’s time to shut the door on this era of Philippine basketball, but are we open-minded enough to see what lies beyond another?
This iteration of Gilas does not resemble the miracle squad that pounced on South Korea late to earn a World Cup berth in 2013. They’re far from the team that was dealt nail-biting 4-point losses to Latin American basketball stalwarts Puerto Rico and Argentina during that World Cup. This is not the Gilas team that shot 13/27 (48.1%) against NBA-tested Argentinians Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Walter Hermann, and Pablo Prigioni.
Rather, this Gilas team was rightfully drubbed in 46 and 59-point losses to Italy and Serbia, respectively. This Gilas team shot a pitiful 3/23 (13%) from the three against Italy, 4/24 (17%) against Serbia, and 10/46 against Angola (46!). They allowed Italy to shoot 67% from the field and 52% from the three. Against Serbia? They allowed a jaw-dropping 84% field goal percentage and 55% from beyond the arc.
Spacing, shooting, ball movement, and defense are much more important than individual talent and isolation offense in FIBA and Euroleague basketball. This is why Team USA is having a less than stellar time in the tournament after barely winning their contest against Turkey. This is why NBA MVP and resident freak Giannis Antetokounpo is averaging 12 ppg and 6 rpg on 44% shooting in this tournament. This is why Luka Doncic said once that scoring in the NBA is easier than in Europe and world tournaments. This is the model Gilas needs to learn – Euro basketball, world basketball, whatever you want to call it. Anything but this.
This version of Gilas needs to die. This PBA (and to a certain extent, the NBA) brand of offense-first, iso-heavy, reactionary play is no longer enough. It might look great on TV, but it will never translate to international success – not when our locals average 6’2” in height.
Fielding in forwards who cannot shoot and rebound is suicide in a game tailor-made for spacing. PBA forwards Troy Rosario, Raymond Almazan, and Gabe Norwood collectively grabbed less rebounds than guards Kiefer Ravena, Robert Bolick, and CJ Perez. Those same forwards shot an eye-searing 0/10 three-pointers. Remember when tito RDO shot 4/8 (50%) from three against Argentina?
Andray Blatche, national mercenary and Gilas crown jewel, shot 2/10 (20%) from the field, registered 2 turnovers, 5 fouls, and a -45 in +/- differential – the team’s worst against Serbia; and this was after he said he would rebound from the Italy game where he earned all his 9 turnovers and another game worst -39 differential.
Gilas normally runs a puso-oriented ride or die approach, and this time they died, spectacularly so. Puso and pogi basketball will never make us champions – we need to share the ball, we need to defend as a team, we need pure shooters, we need intelligent playmakers, we need proper coaching, we need a naturalized player who takes team ball seriously, and we need all these before 2023. Gilas needs to be de-programmed from its PBA tendencies so they can begin a slow, arduous learning process towards a more beautiful brand of basketball, one that hopefully will finally result in valuable wins.