Philippines Senior National Team Thread Vol. V

[IPC]

Kouame manhandled Prosper, even had success against him on the offensive end. This is one reason to be optimistic of his potential, if you’re a Gilas fan. He went back and forth with Al Dwairi in the elimination game, but was taken out early by the refs in the semis with successive phantom, touch fouls. Yeah, Boban ate him alive. But with a 9/13 clip, a lot of legit NBA bigs had worse. He’s a good complementary piece with Kai, esp at this period when Kai is slowly putting on muscles and gaining strength in the process. Let us not view him as a threat just because there are comparisons between them. In the end, they’re still Gilas brothers.

Good points bro.

About the Kouame-Al Dwairi match-up, we have to remember that Al Dwairi is among the top 3 local centers in Asian basketball & he's already in his peak at 29 yrs of age. Kouame is what, 24? Definitely, he's not yet reach his peak & is still bound for some significant improvement, hopefully.

And yeah I agree with you, Pinoy cage fans should not view Kouame as a threat to Kai Sotto or would see a rivalry between the 2. Its kinda stupid mentality (in my opinion) that a Pinoy fan would hope Kouame sucks with Gilas so that Kai Sotto would look good. Kagaguhan yun in my opinion

Yup. After all they are all players of Gilas.

It is not limited to Kai and Kouame.

I remember in the past there are some Filipinos who passionately debating Kai Sotto VS AJ Edu while they are in the same batang gilas team. Lol.

All of them are our assets. No need to create an inside competition. Lmao.

PS: Sucks that Kai and other Overseas Based Players we have are not available

Sorry for the language, but pitting Kai and Kouame against each other is bullshit. I mean, come on. They can play side-by-side eventually. And Kouame's success will translate to Gilas' success.

It's a team effort. I have my favorite players too, but eventually, it's just country above all. No need to pit national team teammates against each other, they're all key to our success.

[DAdmiral]

Tuloy I'm tempted to ask Adams ��. I'll just ask those connected to him to verify

[mathematicianrcg]

Tuloy I'm tempted to ask Adams ��. I'll just ask those connected to him to verify

Yes please ask what happened.lol

If I remember correctly. The claim last few years was he have a passport when he was 9, but he lost it.

I wonder how did they magically found his passport.

But they will probably just ask you to make it private info. hahah

[IPC]

Hopefully we can have a complete line up. But if not, its okay sicne we are already qualified but still we have to go for the win or put a decent fight. But for me, we have to be complete on two most important tournament, and thats Fiba asia cup in July and WC2023, which i believe we will be complete with Kai and everyone abraod since there schedule will be free by that time.

Yeah, at least we will be complete by the main tournaments, hopefully, mainly the FIBA Asia Cup this year and the WC next year. That to me is more important. I think PBA players would also be available by then, provided they schedule right.

In the 2019 WC, we had ample time for the windows, but we flat-out sucked in the main tournament, partly thanks to poor PBA scheduling, partly thanks to barely two weeks of training time, partly thanks to Yeng's inability to manage the WC games, and partly thanks to crap defense. I only hope the PBA learned their lesson.

Anyways, some of this group like Kai, Dave, Tamayo, Baltazar, and probably Dwight and Thirdy, have more upside than most FIBA-eligible PBA stars. Hopefully we get more high-upside players into the fold, because we will need all the talent we can get.

[DAdmiral]

Speaking of Headings hot shooting

while the level may not necessary be high, there really is value in reps for a gunners role, especially in a FIBA environment , that is why I'm high on Heading and Tuffin as they have the reps as a gunner in a similar FIBA type of environment . Do note Tab doesn't want players taking 3's any different from what they are accustomed to , if Tab cannot create enough openings for 3's as they are accustomed to then it's the system that not doing it's job. not the shooter. it's about reps for the specialist shooter role..(not scorer) and Heading and Tuffin have that experience

BTW the thing with the two is they are not stationary shooters , (just stand in the corner) , but fit the required motion to get free to shoot type required, including shooting 3's in transition. ( where one needs to know how to do , get to spots)

[IPC]

Speaking of Headings hot shooting

while the level may not necessary be high, there really is value in reps for a gunners role, especially in a FIBA environment , that is why I'm high on Heading and Tuffin as they have the reps as a gunner in a similar FIBA type of environment . Do note Tab doesn't want players taking 3's any different from what they are accustomed to , if Tab cannot create enough openings for 3's as they are accustomed to then it's the system that not doing it's job. not the shooter. it's about reps for the specialist shooter role..(not scorer) and Heading and Tuffin have that experience

BTW the thing with the two is they are not stationary shooters , (just stand in the corner) , but fit the required motion to get free to shoot type required, including shooting 3's in transition. ( where one needs to know how to do , get to spots)

This is one aspect where our homegrown players need to train, honestly. Transition threes, shooting on the move. Our homegrowns are seriously lacking in this department. Hope guys like Belangel, Dave Ildefonso, and maybe Carl Tamayo and Justine Baltazar learn this.

Good thing that we have Heading and Dwight as guys who can hit shots on the move. Heck, even Isaac Go can attempt threes on the move. Hope the others learn to shoot and hit consistently.

[IPC]

This is one aspect where our homegrown players need to train, honestly. Transition threes, shooting on the move. Our homegrowns are seriously lacking in this department. Hope guys like Belangel, Dave Ildefonso, and maybe Carl Tamayo and Justine Baltazar learn this.

Good thing that we have Heading and Dwight as guys who can hit shots on the move. Heck, even Isaac Go can attempt threes on the move. Hope the others learn to shoot and hit consistently.

Forgot about Allyn Bulanadi and Rey Suerte, who were arguably two of the best homegrown collegiate scorers. Bulanadi could hit transition threes and move off the ball in San Sebastian, as well as shoot on the move, and Suerte could also cut. Sayang, 'di sila masyado nagagamit sa Gilas, especially Bulanadi with the injury.

[ja.he]

This is one aspect where our homegrown players need to train, honestly. Transition threes, shooting on the move. Our homegrowns are seriously lacking in this department. Hope guys like Belangel, Dave Ildefonso, and maybe Carl Tamayo and Justine Baltazar learn this.

Good thing that we have Heading and Dwight as guys who can hit shots on the move. Heck, even Isaac Go can attempt threes on the move. Hope the others learn to shoot and hit consistently.

Isaac Go is good as a pick-n-pop shooter.

[IPC]

Isaac Go is good as a pick-n-pop shooter.

Not just pick-and-pop. He shoots after moving off a screen (he's not the screener, he's the one screened for), and he can make them.

[DAdmiral]

The value of shooting in a many month league involving players with FIBA size. One needs reps in similar FIBA type environment.

[IPC]

The value of shooting in a many month league involving players with FIBA size. One needs reps in similar FIBA type environment.

That's why it's good that Dwight, Parks, the Ravena brothers, Heading, and Kai are playing abroad. The imports in Japan and Taiwan would provide size, if only at the 4 and 5 positions. Plus, shooting is a bigger part of the plays. Although efficiency could be better, that's better than what the PBA is offering. Rotations on shooters are better.

[dubidub]

Tuloy I'm tempted to ask Adams ��. I'll just ask those connected to him to verify

hypothetically speaking, do you think Adams fits Tab's ideal type of swingman? would Tab be genuinely interested?

[DAdmiral]

I actually am not familiar with Adams game , so no idea.
The guy befriended me on FB, so should learn more about him LoL
But if he got B league clearance which requires a passport before 16 as proof to be eligible. It doesn't matter how he got the document. He's eligible

[thatweirdguy]

Pwede baguhin natin o burahin yun ilang komento sa taas? Iwas peligro lang hahaha.

Trans : I'm not really high on Suerte. I would rather have a legit wing like Adams.

[IPC]

The value of shooting in a many month league involving players with FIBA size. One needs reps in similar FIBA type environment.

Right now, the PBA hasn't exactly been providing that FIBA-type environment.

On the size, last season, it was just All-Filipino, although given the circumstances, it was hard to get imports. This season, it's All-Filipino and a height limit for imports. Also, we have three-guard lineups where the third guard ranges from 6'1"-6'2", sometimes 6'3". I can't blame the coaches for using those, because that's their best lineup. Only SFs with size AND talent can beat the third guards, and a traditional lineup with a good-sized SF will be a norm if and only if that kind of lineup wins consistently. The size problem at the 4 and 5 is why I'd been advocating for imports of unlimited height all year long, and that naturalized players should be classified as locals under the Fil-foreign limit. As for the size problem in the SF, I think that can be solved through the draft, or by 6'5"-6'6" imports playing 3 in a team with enough size at the local 4 and 5 (e.g. Brownlee with Ginebra), although this requires a surplus of starting-quality FIBA-sized bigs in the draft.

On the shooting end, we're shooting quite low (30% league average for the season), as has been the case in the PBA for the longest time. Apart from the spacing, this actually hurts our defense, as our players would get too used to not rotating to shooters without any consequences. This can hurt us internationally. This is why the Korean imports would be a welcome addition if that pushes through. They would provide shooting and force our defenders to rotate.

Hahahahah. Yeah.

Thats why that is the normal mentality here in our country.

" Help in drives and slashes, outside shots are low percentage anyway"

I cant blame some of them, because most of the "designated shooters" are not making them pay.

The difference in outside shooting is obvious between Gilas and European Teams. Just looking at 2014 and 2019 World Cup.

To be fair, this version of Gilas shoots better, which they showed both in the Asian qualifiers and the OQT. Heading, Baltazar, Tamayo, and Abarrientos all shot above 40% in the OQT, where we shot 36.2% overall from 3 on a .379 3PAr (47 3PA out of 124 FGA). In the FIBA Asia qualifiers, we shot 37.1% overall from 3 on a .376 3PAr (170 3PA out of 452 FGA).