Philippines Senior National Team Thread Vol. V

[lurklurk]

I think tagging Boatwright as a defensive liability is a bit too exaggerated. He's definitely not someone who can defend on POA or against wing scorers with his less than ideal athleticism and length (compared to Brownlee and Kouame). But from the limited footage I've seen from his g league stint and on the Mexican league, he has solid feel for the game and has always been wiling to improve defensively and execute schemes. I think he can thrive as a helper or a drop big and will fit nicely with Sotto. If he gets familiar with CTC's defensive schemes, I think he'll be fine and can help us. Not to mention the immense addition he provides offensively.

Instead of a rim protector, what I'd like to see with him are wing defenders with solid length and who can rotate effectively in the perimeter and can defend in transition. We have those on Malonzo, Oftana, Ramos and Newsome. Hopefully Quiambao as well in the future.

My concern for Boatwright however lies more on his rebounding and health as he had consistently dealt with knee injuries since his college days under USC. His rebounding needs to be more consistent although he showed good numbers during his time with SMB. Not really versed in sports medicine so I can't comment much on his injury issues.

[hmbopbaduwap]

[IPC]

I think tagging Boatwright as a defensive liability is a bit too exaggerated. He's definitely not someone who can defend on POA or against wing scorers with his less than ideal athleticism and length (compared to Brownlee and Kouame). But from the limited footage I've seen from his g league stint and on the Mexican league, he has solid feel for the game and has always been wiling to improve defensively and execute schemes. I think he can thrive as a helper or a drop big and will fit nicely with Sotto. If he gets familiar with CTC's defensive schemes, I think he'll be fine and can help us. Not to mention the immense addition he provides offensively.

Instead of a rim protector, what I'd like to see with him are wing defenders with solid length and who can rotate effectively in the perimeter and can defend in transition. We have those on Malonzo, Oftana, Ramos and Newsome. Hopefully Quiambao as well in the future.

My concern for Boatwright however lies more on his rebounding and health as he had consistently dealt with knee injuries since his college days under USC. His rebounding needs to be more consistent although he showed good numbers during his time with SMB. Not really versed in sports medicine so I can't comment much on his injury issues.

I saw in the PBA and some clips with his CBA team that although he gets a few blocks, he gives up a number of easy baskets in the interior.

I'm just concerned for our interior defense if Bennie's the new NP, and AJ is not around due to injury. This will put a lot of onus on Kai to improve on anchoring a defense, which he is still learning to do. In addition, FIBA-eligible bigs who can anchor a defense (or even help out their fellow big) in the FIBA level are incredibly hard to find here due to the way we train our bigs.

As for scheme, when Bennie's not paired with AJ, we need something that limits his responsibility on that end. That will involve the perimeter defenders you mentioned (Oftana, Dwight, Newsome (who's 33 at this point). We will have to prevent penetration as much as we can if AJ is not around. I remember the Bulls in 2021-22, and their defense was so reliant on Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, who are guards that are so impactful on defense, which makes Vucevic's defensive issues (and the Bulls' lack of a paint protecting big in general) less of a concern.

I just don't want another SoKor game where we gave up 67% from the field and 72% from three. That was the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup, in a quarterfinal we were favored in. And in the past, how we performed was usually dictated by how well our defense performed. When our defense is good, we performed well (see 2013 and 2015 silvers). When our defense sucked, we faltered.

I just hope my concern (and that of the others here sharing mine) about our team defense if/when Bennie succeeds JB is overblown.

[lurklurk]

I saw in the PBA and some clips with his CBA team that although he gets a few blocks, he gives up a number of easy baskets in the interior.

I'm just concerned for our interior defense if Bennie's the new NP, and AJ is not around due to injury. This will put a lot of onus on Kai to improve on anchoring a defense, which he is still learning to do. In addition, FIBA-eligible bigs who can anchor a defense (or even help out their fellow big) in the FIBA level are incredibly hard to find here due to the way we train our bigs.

As for scheme, when Bennie's not paired with AJ, we need something that limits his responsibility on that end. That will involve the perimeter defenders you mentioned (Oftana, Dwight, Newsome (who's 33 at this point). We will have to prevent penetration as much as we can if AJ is not around. I remember the Bulls in 2021-22, and their defense was so reliant on Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, who are guards that are so impactful on defense, which makes Vucevic's defensive issues (and the Bulls' lack of a paint protecting big in general) less of a concern.

I just don't want another SoKor game where we gave up 67% from the field and 72% from three. That was the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup, in a quarterfinal we were favored in. And in the past, how we performed was usually dictated by how well our defense performed. When our defense is good, we performed well (see 2013 and 2015 silvers). When our defense sucked, we faltered.

I just hope my concern (and that of the others here sharing mine) about our team defense if/when Bennie succeeds JB is overblown.

Yeah, I purposely checked his g league and Mexican league stint where he was not relied upon so heavily on the offensive end to better gauge his effort on defense and willingness to execute. I thought he was fine, although definitely not exceptional. In terms of scheme, I agree he won't anchor a defense nor provide any kind of rim deterrence but I am in the opinion that he can replicate at least how Standhardinger does in Cone's schemes and just be a big body to clog the paint.

The one upside I found with Boatwright is his craftiness and IQ. It hasn't translated to the defensive end as of yet but I'm hopeful Cone can help him express his skills on the other end of the floor.

[IPC]

Yeah, I purposely checked his g league and Mexican league stint where he was not relied upon so heavily on the offensive end to better gauge his effort on defense and willingness to execute. I thought he was fine, although definitely not exceptional. In terms of scheme, I agree he won't anchor a defense nor provide any kind of rim deterrence but I am in the opinion that he can replicate at least how Standhardinger does in Cone's schemes and just be a big body to clog the paint.

The one upside I found with Boatwright is his craftiness and IQ. It hasn't translated to the defensive end as of yet but I'm hopeful Cone can help him express his skills on the other end of the floor.

Bennie turns 28 this July. His window to improve on defense is limited. And we have one defensive-minded big in AJ, and he's injury-prone (hope he gets healthier as his career goes on). We will have to rely on Kai's improvement on defense to provide some deterrent against rim pressure when AJ's not around, and on AJ's health.

Yeah, Bennie looks coachable too. Hope he can at least be as you say, someone to deter rim attacks. But still, we need to limit rim pressure if AJ's not around. And if our defense without AJ doesn't hold, hope the offensive ability outweighs the additional points we might give up on defense. When JC was with us, we were lucky that AJ was there.

[IPC]

Boatwright's poor defense is really worrisome. No doubt that offensively he's impressive (though his performance in last conference final series against Magnolia was far from impressive). I just feel that this current version of Gilas under coach Tim Cone doesn't need a naturalized player who is a big scorer more than it needs someone with decent defensive skills.
While Dray Blatche wasn't known as a decent defender in the NBA, I think by Asia-Oceania standards, Blatche' defense was decent enough.

I'm also worried about the defense. Of our eligible 4/5's, AJ's the only player that can reliably anchor the defense, or at least provide decent help. Kai will have to improve his timing and rotations, and Carl will have to improve on his discipline and foot speed (although he did switch well against Taiwan).

Good news is, we have time before JB calls it quits with Gilas. We have time to find local bigs who can potentially be a good defensive 4/5 (especially on help defense), and Kai, Carl, and even AJ have time to improve their own defense.

On another note, I hope this brings to SBP's attention that we have a glaring lack of FIBA-eligible bigs in the 198-203cm range or taller who can anchor a defense or at least cover for their frontcourt partners.

That way, we will have less issues in roster construction when a go-to guy who is a subpar defender is being considered as a main NP.

[lurklurk]

On another note, I hope this brings to SBP's attention that we have a glaring lack of FIBA-eligible bigs in the 198-203cm range or taller who can anchor a defense or at least cover for their frontcourt partners.

That way, we will have less issues in roster construction when a go-to guy who is a subpar defender is being considered as a main NP.

Curious about how you define a defensive anchor. Is it about defensive cleanup or more on being a defensive quarterback?

[JAMSKIE]

Bennie turns 28 this July. His window to improve on defense is limited. And we have one defensive-minded big in AJ, and he's injury-prone (hope he gets healthier as his career goes on). We will have to rely on Kai's improvement on defense to provide some deterrent against rim pressure when AJ's not around, and on AJ's health.

Yeah, Bennie looks coachable too. Hope he can at least be as you say, someone to deter rim attacks. But still, we need to limit rim pressure if AJ's not around. And if our defense without AJ doesn't hold, hope the offensive ability outweighs the additional points we might give up on defense. When JC was with us, we were lucky that AJ was there.

Correct. A player on his late 20's will probably have a limited chance of improving what seems like a significant flaw of his game. I mean Boatwright may still improve his defense but most likely such degree of improvement would be limited.

As to what U said, you hope Boatwright's offensive ability outweights the points that he gives up to opponents becoz of his poor defense, well in fairness to Boatwright, his offensive skills is really impressive. I think its almost comparable to that of a prime Dray Blatche. As what U mentioned, Boatwright is coachable, I think he's more coachable than a Dray Blatche.

[IPC]

Curious about how you define a defensive anchor. Is it about defensive cleanup or more on being a defensive quarterback?

It can be either or both, so long as you are a good defender as well. Ping's not exactly a cleanup guy (that was either Gabe, Douthit, or Blatche), but he anchored the defense for us, along with Gabe.

[Rds]

It can be either or both, so long as you are a good defender as well. Ping's not exactly a cleanup guy (that was either Gabe, Douthit, or Blatche), but he anchored the defense for us, along with Gabe.

Ping's strength was he was a versatile defender. He was short for a PF but his strength, length and tenacity made up for it. He was also versatile enough to switch to guards. However, in the end he was a complementary defensive player. He still needed to play alongside a rim protector. The center position is more important it seems in Fiba than in the NBA. There is no defensive 3 seconds so tall guys can camp in the paint and effectively stifle drives. In the NBA guys like Valenciunas are defensive liabilities but in their home teams in Fiba not as much. This experiment of Cone and Chua of not getting an NP center relies heavily on Kai's progression. I personally think it's a big risk. Good as the strides Kai has been making as of late I still can't imagine him being our main rim protector in Fiba. But we'll see in the Olympic Qualifiers where he will finally be matched up against 7 footers.

[IPC]

Ping's strength was he was a versatile defender. He was short for a PF but his strength, length and tenacity made up for it. He was also versatile enough to switch to guards. However, in the end he was a complementary defensive player. He still needed to play alongside a rim protector. The center position is more important it seems in Fiba than in the NBA. There is no defensive 3 seconds so tall guys can camp in the paint and effectively stifle drives. In the NBA guys like Valenciunas are defensive liabilities but in their home teams in Fiba not as much. This experiment of Cone and Chua of not getting an NP center relies heavily on Kai's progression. I personally think it's a big risk. Good as the strides Kai has been making as of late I still can't imagine him being our main rim protector in Fiba. But we'll see in the Olympic Qualifiers where he will finally be matched up against 7 footers.

Yeah, let's see how Kai performs defensively in the OQT, against NZ in November and February, and in next year's FIBA Asia Cup to see if we can afford not getting a 4 (defensive-minded or two-way go-to guy) to protect the paint. I chose those tournaments, because I think that's how long JB will be playing with us. Otherwise, after JB retires, we will have to rely on our perimeter defenders (Dwight, Scottie, Oftana; I left out Newsome because he'll be 35 next year, and I don't know if he will continue) to prevent rim pressure if AJ is not on the floor.

And yes, the center position is very important in FIBA (really fitting the name of pivot), either as a rebounding presence, a rim protector, or a post presence, or any combination of those mentioned.

[JAMSKIE]

It can be either or both, so long as you are a good defender as well. Ping's not exactly a cleanup guy (that was either Gabe, Douthit, or Blatche), but he anchored the defense for us, along with Gabe.

For me a defensive anchor is someone whose defense alone could make a significant difference in the game. Gabe Norwood is obviously like that. Gabe's defense was a difference maker for Gilas. I think Jean Mark Pingris is somewhat that kind of player as well, though not in the same level as Gabe. I think Pingris defense & toughness made a big difference in that historic win over South Korea in the semis of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship.

[DAdmiral]

Hmm, a future defensive wing , ala Gabe. .. well hoping I've found one ..

[reamily]

a defensive anchor can also be the one who talks on the court in defense and set as an example by doing what he preach..

[JAMSKIE]

Hmm, a future defensive wing , ala Gabe. .. well hoping I've found one ..

I see a William Navarro & a Ken Tuffin as having the potential of becoming a good size defensive wingmen who are within the level of a Gabe Norwood in terms of defense. Unfortunately, none of them are in the current Gilas team of coach Tim.