Point we’re trying to make it here is don’t get deceived by pba players performance and say “oh he can be a gilas prospect”
learned from the past
I get your point bro. That there are certain PBA players who did very well in the PBA but wasn't effective playing for Gilas and examples are Garry David, Matthew Wright, RR Pogoy.
My point is that how will we know unless we tried such players in the national team? Kaya nga I asked you if what's in Stockton game that made you conclude that he won't be effective playing for Gilas. What is your basis?
That is why I cited the case of Calvin Abueva in which very few people (perhaps almost none) predicted that he would be effective for Gilas even as he was really doing well in the PBA. I remember people here at IBN pointed to Abueva's suspect outside shooting & being an undersized small forward as among his biggest downside playing for the national team (which I myself stongly agreed). Yet Abueva proved us wrong in 2015 when he played for Gilas. And it was great that coach Tab Baldwin took the gamble on Abueva. Coach Tab tried Abueva & it was worth the gamble. Well, perhaps the great coach Tab Baldwin is, he most likely saw something in Abueva that we as ordinary basketball enthusiasts didn't.
The same is almost true with Terrence Romeo when he was named by coach Tab in the Gilas pool in 2015. Some people thought Romeo won't be effective in the national team becoz of his invidualistic style of play. This despite of Romeo's eye-pooping stats in the PBA. Yet Romeo proved to be very effective playing for Gilas in 2015. He & Abueva are among the vital components of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship silver medalist Gilas team.
That is why it is very difficult for ordinary basketball enthusiasts like most of us here to simply conclude that this certain player who is doing well in the PBA won't be effective playing for the national team. We have no way of knowing until that player gets to play for the national team. Maybe we could make a rational assessment on certain players becoz of some glaring weakness in their game like suspect outside shooting, or being undersized for the position he plays, or being a poor defender or being too individualistic, but what about if such player doesn't have that glaring weaknesses?
My take is, for those Pinoy players that are doing well in the PBA or in any other leagues, we tried them out playing for Gilas. They might be another Jeff Chan, or RDO, or Castro, or Norwood, or Pingris, or Abueva, or Romeo, or Dwight Ramos, or Calvin Oftana. Now if they will turn out to be another Matthew Wright, or Garry David or RR Pogoy, then so be it. At least they were given the chance to show what they can do as national team players.
We have no way of telling unless those players are tested playing for the national team. There are lots of tournaments out there - Asian Games, SEA Games, Asia Cup, World Cup & it's qualifying games, Jones Cup, where we can test our potential national team players.
