With Hachimura out of the World Cup, how do you think a Gilas team with about 2 months of preparation & with Clarkson & Kai stands against a Hachimura-less Japan team in case these two team clashes?
Makes sense for Rui. His Olympic experience screwed him up mentally. Had to miss a few months of the season.
Estonia players' height, age and ballclub:
C Peter Carey - 6'11 (20) Syracuse (US NCAA D1)
F Taavi Jurkatamm - 6'8 (25) Kalev (EST)
F Markus Ilver - 6'8 (21) Wisconsin (US NCAA D1)
F Joonas Riisma - 6'6 (21) New Basket Brindisi (ITA)
G Kasper Suurorg - 6'6 (21) C.B. Prat (ESP)
G Mikk Jurkatamm - 6'5 (22) Treviso (ITA)
G Sverre Aav - 6'4 (21) Parnu Sadam (EST)
G Kristen Kasemets - 6'3 (21) Keila (EST)
G Johannes Kirsipuu - 6'2 (21) UCA (US NCAA D1)
G Ron Pehka - 6'1 (24) Kalev (EST)
G Carlos Jurgens - 6'1 (24) Oral Roberts (US NCAA D1)
Damn I thought maybe one of two were 20, 21 but half the team is 21. I know this is not the final squad but it doesn’t look good when half this team is probably in the final lineup. Not to mention a few months left to build cohesion.
Damn I thought maybe one of two were 20, 21 but half the team is 21. I know this is not the final squad but it doesn’t look good when half this team is probably in the final lineup. Not to mention a few months left to build cohesion.
I watched the replay of the 3rd quarter of the Gilas-Estonia tune-up game. At around 6 mins. in the 3rd quarter, I saw Junmar bungled an easy undergoal stab. Man that was a gimme! An easy shot right there that Junmar throw away. Halata talagang na intimidate. I think that has been the problem of Junmar in the FIBA game - he easily gets intimidated by the size of the opponent. Nasanay kasi sa PBA against 6-foot-6 local bigs in which he could easily overpower. But if matched up against 6-foot-9 & above bigs in FIBA, nag iiba na ang laro ni Junmar.
Basically our big men is a huge question mark for WC level, the game vs China classification round could be the playoff game for the sole Asian Olympic spot, can we realistically win with the bigs we have available, this is the big question mark.
Do remember we had Blatche previously.. especially a 2014 NBA level fit Blatche.
I watched the replay of the 3rd quarter of the Gilas-Estonia tune-up game. At around 6 mins. in the 3rd quarter, I saw Junmar bungled an easy undergoal stab. Man that was a gimme! An easy shot right there that Junmar throw away. Halata talagang na intimidate. I think that has been the problem of Junmar in the FIBA game - he easily gets intimidated by the size of the opponent. Nasanay kasi sa PBA against 6-foot-6 local bigs in which he could easily overpower. But if matched up against 6-foot-9 & above bigs in FIBA, nag iiba na ang laro ni Junmar.
Iran possibly have a chance to steal the spot in Asia for Olympics... Brazil might be higher rank than DR but the latter is more stronger especially if KAT suits for them... And Ivory Coast is very beatable for Iran... Another thing, If they can't make it to the 2nd round, They will have another chance since they will likely beat Lebanon (possibly w/o Arakji) in classification game... If Iran and either Gilas or China gets 2-3 record after classification, Only quotient will decide who will take the Olympic spot in Asia... That means Gilas should not give up early in case if they were blown out early against Italy and DR... They need to lessen the lead into manageable quotient system (12 - 15 pt loss is already achievable)... If Gilas lose to Italy or DR in a very big margin, Their chances on getting Olympic spot will be lessen... They should get any points even garbage time to less the quotient loss points they have...
I am surprised on how beatable estonia eas considering teams like us Japan chose taipei as their first game..the team we faced is quite high level
I say even the 3rd tier teams in Europe would be very difficult opponents by top Asian teams. Iceland for instance is no slouch. Iceland beat a Gilas team with Dray Blatche & Tab Baldwin as coach in a pocket tournament in 2015.