A
ARMIR2
Guest
Arana, Baltazar and Carino,
This 3 plus Amos for practice player,he needs to really learned FIBA style defense.
Arana, Baltazar and Carino,
So ibn want a small ballish 5 who plays like ping or draymond green
Who was this player? We had lots of "difficult" players who don our NTs colors but I guess it's different when you consider the costs too
Sir Guy,
Jones, Oliver, McCollough, Blatche among others great talents and we all know you need that Doc River thing to make sure emotions may not to high and not too low either.
no ones wants to volunteer as a babysitter.
Can't blame the SBP on this.
I think one of the main consideration they are looking for now for a candidate is the attitude of a player, they could easily convince and hired a very prolific NBA level type of a baller but later on they discover(ed) that it has a cuckoo in the head..therefore it's a high risk high reward thing and they don't want that.
enter JB, BB, Manila Bey and J3, not your typical high level guy but all screws are in the right places as per observation by their respective PBA coaches and teammates and SBP both empire, likes that.
I was thinking of Jones because of his incident with Abueva. Ia hadn't heard of anything bad with Oliver, Jollibee. Blatche is already naturalized so I hadn't thought of him though he certainly has his bad habits. Nothing that tops Abueva antics though.
Speaking of Abueva, is he the player on Snow's blind item?
And remember, they will represent Philippines, Not a ball club... Passport are very sacred... If they do something wrong then they will revoke their passports... We don't want another issue in international basketball community again... Giving Passports here are not so fast as some countries that just giving passports just only days...
It's funny if you look at all PBA rosters wondering who could eligibly play 10 minutes for CTC at Gilas behind Sotto against a team like NZ and not look like shark bait. They already have Tamayo who was on the floor when HK clawed back into the game.
Wala talaga.
They're all semi-positionless players who are 6'5 or taller. No disrespect to Geoff Chiu and Will Navarro, but Nenad ran into this problem when they got blown tf out way back when even Ramos was playing the 4. Kai is tall, but bigs gotta play big. Maybe asking Sotto to play 35 minutes won't be too much to ask if that problem happens in other windows.
He's still matchup dependent. There will be games that he will be unplayable. We're lucky so far that we haven't run into anyone who can exploit his deficiencies. Also can he handle more than 30 minutes of PT? He isn't use to playing that many minutes and his conditioning was a problem before.
We need another big body who can play 10-15 minutes.
You only need one good center, the rest are tall versatile guys. Tab said as much in an interview. The problem now is Kai is not yet as good defensively as Edu or Kouame. Second, is we don't have a good defensive PF. Tamayo is not good defensively. Jaimie is small in high comp. JB is there. But it's something we need to consider when we change JB.
Bigman play is still important in FIBA, wherever you go. Last line of defense, post or rim-running options, and you can park a good rim protector in the paint for a long time.
We will need a quality big on defense. Have one like Mike Phillips become eligible, or by 2026, naturalize a good defensive big (ala Ange, bonus if with a good offensive skillset) who was born on maybe 2002 or later in case Kai hasn't developed as a defender by the 2026-2028 range.
JB's replacement NP for the most part should be Ange for defensive stability. JC could be playable only if AJ's in the lineup, but we might sacrifice the other big on defense.
I think Kai will develop his defensive skills come 2026 - 2027, As he matures, He will learn how to defend form inside and perimeter... We already saw it in past couple of games that Kai is already contributing a lot... I think we need to have faith in him... If we not trust him, he will definitely fails, I'm sure CTC have faith on Kai... He will have a bigger role in this 4 year span...
From Eala’s comments I assume Kai’s defense is still far from the level we need. It seems to me TC and SMC’s bravado of picking 6’6 JB as NP is because of the presence of Edu. Without Edu our defense would be uncompetitive IMO at high comp even with Kai. I just hope that Edu’s B league team doesnt overextend him again. As I said before, with his injury history it seems Edu has to be game managed all his career. This proved true when he was injured after his team kept playing him almost 40 minutes. It seems to me that TC and SMCs bravado of relying on Edu, Kai and JF to anchor our defense is risky. Again we will see as the comp becomes better.
However, if our defense is exposed with better comp then TC has to make a hard decision. It seems he is comfortable with an athletic SF/PF as NP. But if our 3 headed C rotation shows to be lacking he may have no choice but to pick a C NP, Kouame.
I really think he already reached the peak of his offensive skills,every year its the same old song,by next year he will develope his making own shots,skills,he will drive to the basket without any help from his guards,he will learn to guard the perimeter.It is what it is,just give him a pg who will put Kai above his own stats and don't complain about it,and he will be ok,definitely he's not gonna be a Chet,Wemby or even a Paolo Banchero,he's a big man who can score as long as the pg ignores everyones else and he's deep and highlight dunks are good for the fans.
I really think he already reached the peak of his offensive skills,every year its the same old song,by next year he will develope his making own shots,skills,he will drive to the basket without any help from his guards,he will learn to guard the perimeter.It is what it is,just give him a pg who will put Kai above his own stats and don't complain about it,and he will be ok,definitely he's not gonna be a Chet,Wemby or even a Paolo Banchero,he's a big man who can score as long as the pg ignores everyones else and he's deep and highlight dunks are good for the fans.
Kouame is actually more than good enough as additional np big for asian rounds. A solid, very reliable small forward scorer like brownlee or clarkson is needed only against australia and possibly new zealand. Abando and quiambao are reliable scorers and defenders, and must be in the nt for at least four years.
What is truly historical is that cone stopped using midget guards and undersized forwards. Even with non-sensational asean-level players like newsome, perez, oftana and tamayo, the hong kong 123s were easy pickings. This will be true even against the sokors and japanese -- although abando, lopez, mason amos, and baltazar are the more explosive 2-way, stronger, and scarier players still against the hefty, tall and quick northern east asians.
What are needed are more filfors who clearly should be considered regular pinoys -- after fiba endorsement-- for the next ten years. The 6'8 mike phillips, 6'7 balunggay, and 6'9 sean alter are certainly more than good enough against asian teams. Then, they can still request fiba consideration for the mobile 7-foot tolentino as local hawaiian-pinoy. Cone can convince and get this young guy as decent replacement for the aging fajardo and aguilar as twin tower pair with kaiju.
All the young guys i mentioned are probably skilled and athletic enough to neutralize the strongest and biggest asian teams. They are also enough to form the 12+8, 20-man nt pool that can dispel all injury and inavailability concerns for all the major tournaments, without needlessly fagging out or overusing prime players. Even better is a 22-man pool with clarkson and tolentino.
Of course, there is still this matter of the olympic dream. But even youtube fanbois know that up to 4 nba players can be plugged in to our nt if good luck pans out.
Kai is 21, and although it has been slower than expected, the improvement in his strength is noticeable. It's realistic to expect him to continue to get stronger. Add to that him becoming "wiser" and more experienced. And if and when he gains the all important "confidence" his offense will definitely improve. Unlike defense, lateral speed is not as important on offense. No way he has peaked offensively.
Defensively, like I said in the other thread, he has a mediocre ceiling.
A Papagianis like center is enough for Kai for us… if I were him, play in Europe, his style is fit in Europe than in US… but for now, B league is his home for now until he matures and reach his prime years at mid 20s