Gilas five draws praises, flak from local coaches

Losing five of its seven games in the tough FIBA Asia Champions Cup, Smart-Gilas Pilipinas drew both praises and flak from former national team coaches. Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) mentors Jong Uichico of Barangay Ginebra, Chot Reyes of Talk N Text, Tim Cone of Alaska Milk and Yeng Guiao of Air21 shared their thoughts and assessment of the national team's performance.

For Uichico, coach of the all-pro RP team to the 2002 Busan Asian Games and assistant coach of both Reyes and Guiao, said Smart-Gilas should be given a passing grade despite failing to match or surpass its previous showing in this strong and highly-competitive competition joined by some of the best club teams in the Middle East. “They deserve a passing grade, that’s for sure," Uichico told GMANews.TV in a telephone interview. “Although they’ve lost a lot of games, I think they’re on the right track in achieving their ultimate goal." Uichico, who was part of the 1984 champion team Northern Consolidated Cement that represented the country in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia, said that the difficulty of finding a dominant big man to reinforce the squad was one of the reasons Smart-Gilas struggled against tougher and better teams. “It’s a given, we’re small, and there are a big talent pool as far as guards are concerned, but we couldn’t find a dominant big man. Of course, their import is effective, but not dominant. They need a dominant big man who can match up against formidable imports," said Uichico. “But finding a good import is not the case here. It’s finding a good import who wants to be naturalized." Smart-Gilas is having a difficult time finding an import willing to be naturalized. The team had two previous imports in CJ Giles and Jamal Sampson, who both had their differences with the management and were replaced. The squad looked for other prospective candidates, including Greg Steimsma and former PBA import Earl Barron, who both inked contracts in the NBA, as well as Jared Hohmann, who opted to secure a Bulgarian citizenship so he can play in the European League. That’s why PBA chairman Lito Alvarez suggested that next season’s import-laden tournament in the country’s professional league should have reinforcements with unlimited height, an idea that was opposed by Reyes. “With due respect to our chairman, I don’t see it as ideal," said Reyes. “What’s the use? To use the imports plainly to reinforce the squad in certain competitions or to get them as prospective candidates for naturalization? It’s difficult to find an import who wants to be naturalized, especially imports from the PBA, who prefer playing elsewhere." Reyes, coach of the PBA-backed RP team in the Tokushima FIBA Asia Championship in 2007, cited the case of Adam Parada, the seven-foot slotman who played for Red Bull, but could not be naturalized by any country as he had already played for his country’s junior national team. The many-time PBA Coach of the Year and one of the few coaches to win an All-Filipino title in three different teams, also added that the FIBA Asia Champions Cup is “no big deal." “I don’t think that’s their main objective," said Reyes. “They’re playing in the Champions Cup just to get better and get beaten by powerhouse teams from the Middle East. They need these kinds of games. The objective is to play in the FIBA Asia Championship and hopefully earn a berth in the Olympics. I don’t think this is the time to push the panic button." Cone, who led the all-pro Centennial squad to a third-place finish in the Bangkok Asian Games, explained that he will have difficulty evaluating the performance of Smart-Gilas as he didn’t see its games. “All I know is that some of their guys were injured and they’ve lost close matches against tough teams," said Cone. “The main purpose there is to gain more exposure playing internationally and get better as time goes by." But for Guiao, who handled the Powerade-Pilipinas men’s basketball team to the FIBA Asia Championship in Tianjin, Smart-Gilas should be more worried now. “If the FIBA Asia Champions Cup will be used as a gauge, I think they’ve yet to progress. There’s a time frame in everything and in their program, they should have improved more now. But it seems they failed to utilize the resources given to them and they should be more worried now," said Guiao. RP cagers improving, rivals improving more Guiao is convinced that Smart-Gilas players are improving -- and our rivals are improving more. “They’re a step ahead of us as far as improving is concerned. Let’s assume we’re improving, but our rivals are improving more. That’s why, my stand there is that we should send the best talented players, who are obviously coming from the PBA," said Guiao. Uichico said that basketball had truly evolved. “Before, we didn’t have a hard time finding players who will be naturalized because these guys are players who have very slim chances of making it to the NBA and there were only few competitions back then. Now, we have a lot of professional leagues in the Asian region," said Uichico. “And our rivals certainly became better through the years." Cone said that the game had certainly improved on all levels, which is why the competition has become tougher for the Filipinos. “It’s different from the time I was coaching the national team. Teams had certainly improved by leaps and bounds and basketball had certainly become a global sport and competition got tougher," said Cone, the winningest mentor among active coaches and longest-tenured mentor in the PBA. - Rey Joble, OMG GMANews.TV