Philippines Senior National Team Thread Vol. V

[Metta]

Cone did evaluate players in this video:

Scottie and Newsome: Not the best scorers, but great defenders
Carl: Could be a superstar for Gilas by 2027, energetic on defense, same skillset as Kerby Raymundo
KQ: Could play and defend multiple positions
Kai: Dominant in practice, pressure to be one of the main guys, perfect fit offensively and defensively
AJ: Primary bigman stopper
Boatwright: Athletic at 6'10", lights-out shooter, can play inside and out, can play with Kai AND June Mar at 3 (I personally don't know about this one)
Oftana: Big wing at 6'5"-6'6"

Good interview and interesting takes. He starts out with emphasizing that defense will be the priority. Also a lot of hints at the importance of versatility.

I like that when it comes to the young guys, he is looking at them with a future potential in mind. His take on Carl loving defense and them developing him and KQ defensively is exciting.

Boatwright being able to play 3-5 also seems like in terms of future potential. It makes sense that they see him as a probable NP if we make the 2024 LA Olympics (he's an LA native). Hopefully, they are correct in believing that he can bring it on the defensive end.

Hopefully, him scouting Angola and not having a gameplan against Angola's ball-hawk pg and over-active bigs is not an indictment on his evaluation abilities.

Overall, he's very optimistic which is way better than already hinting at excuses in case of failure.

[IPC]

Good interview and interesting takes. He starts out with emphasizing that defense will be the priority. Also a lot of hints at the importance of versatility.

I like that when it comes to the young guys, he is looking at them with a future potential in mind. His take on Carl loving defense and them developing him and KQ defensively is exciting.

Boatwright being able to play 3-5 also seems like in terms of future potential. It makes sense that they see him as a probable NP if we make the 2024 LA Olympics (he's an LA native). Hopefully, they are correct in believing that he can bring it on the defensive end.

Hopefully, him scouting Angola and not having a gameplan against Angola's ball-hawk pg and over-active bigs is not an indictment on his evaluation abilities.

Overall, he's very optimistic which is way better than already hinting at excuses in case of failure.

Bennie's 6'10", e. I think he'll be a system defender at best like Carl and Quiambao. We need to get personnel to help him out. Best guy for that is AJ. The only local defenders on the team so far are Scottie, Newsome, Dwight, and AJ.

We'll need Kai to take a leap before JB retires, and get better defenders after June Mar (35 in November) and Newsome (34 in July) retire. Oftana could be a good system defender, but he and CJ haven't been the best on that end in the PBA when it comes to staying in front of their man. Malonzo's more of a help defender than a man defender at this point, and he's up-and-down. We will need these guys, along with Carl and Quiambao, to take a leap on defense.

[JAMSKIE]

Cone did evaluate players in this video:

Scottie and Newsome: Not the best scorers, but great defenders
Carl: Could be a superstar for Gilas by 2027, energetic on defense, same skillset as Kerby Raymundo
KQ: Could play and defend multiple positions
Kai: Dominant in practice, pressure to be one of the main guys, perfect fit offensively and defensively
AJ: Primary bigman stopper
Boatwright: Athletic at 6'10", lights-out shooter, can play inside and out, can play with Kai AND June Mar at 3 (I personally don't know about this one)
Oftana: Big wing at 6'5"-6'6"

Coach Tim said like (not the exact words) "I think Al Francis Chua played a big part on the selection of players"

Now we know why guys like Robert Bolick & Justin Baltazar was never considered in the Gilas team/pool & it looks like they will never be considered for as long as SMC people are in charge of the national team. I think if its only up to coach Tim, he most likely wud have named Bolick for the pool right from the onset. How can one ignore or pass up on Philippine basketball's best point guard at present?

[JAMSKIE]

If Kevin Quiambao won't prove to be a decent defender especially at the 3 spot, if I'm coach Tim Cone. I would probably replace him with a defense specialist in William Navarro. This despite Quiambao being the better offensive player than Navarro. I feel Gilas needs Navarro's defense more than it needs Quiambao's offense. Like Quiambao, Navarro also provides versatility to the team as he can play both the 3 & 4 spot. Navarro may not have Quiambao's 3-pt shooting & passing but on the defensive side, the former is better than the latter.

[IPC]

If Kevin Quiambao won't prove to be a decent defender especially at the 3 spot, if I'm coach Tim Cone. I would probably replace him with a defense specialist in William Navarro. This despite Quiambao being the better offensive player than Navarro. I feel Gilas needs Navarro's defense more than it needs Quiambao's offense. Like Quiambao, Navarro also provides versatility to the team as he can play both the 3 & 4 spot. Navarro may not have Quiambao's 3-pt shooting & passing but on the defensive side, the former is better than the latter.

And we have one wing defender who can defend man-to-man in Dwight. Oftana and Malonzo are more of team defenders at this point. We need another wing who can defend man-to-man.

[IPC]

Watching the Japan vs Aus games saw alot of one on one and penetration from Japan. Similar to plays of Yokohama team of Kai

Lotta drives off PnR's and catch-and-shoot attempts too.

Correct. I feel that this should be our plays. Like how PHX suns did in Nash era. I don't think we will have opportunities to score under triangle offense.

We will need an offensive coordinator for that. As long as it makes the lives of our players easier on offense.

That 7 seconds or less Suns team couldn't defend to save their lives, though. Added defense in Raja Bell in 2007, but a stupid fight after a hip check, and choking the next 2 games, denied them an NBA Finals spot.

[zairex]

We will need an offensive coordinator for that. As long as it makes the lives of our players easier on offense.

That 7 seconds or less Suns team couldn't defend to save their lives, though. Added defense in Raja Bell in 2007, but a stupid fight after a clothesline, and choking the next 2 games, denied them an NBA Finals spot.

In our case. We have zone defense to help us out

[IPC]

In our case. We have zone defense to help us out

Our zones can't be static, though. We have to move as the ball moves. And it has to be used judiciously.

[zairex]

Similar to our defense in 2014 and 2016. Even our switching defense in WC in 2023 and Asian Games. Switch on everything except for known offensive players like Towns

[Giannis34GOD]

Coach Tim said like (not the exact words) "I think Al Francis Chua played a big part on the selection of players"

Now we know why guys like Robert Bolick & Justin Baltazar was never considered in the Gilas team/pool & it looks like they will never be considered for as long as SMC people are in charge of the national team. I think if its only up to coach Tim, he most likely wud have named Bolick for the pool right from the onset. How can one ignore or pass up on Philippine basketball's best point guard at present?

I don’t know but if CTC loves bolick, he would harvest him from Northport earlier…

[TheRodster21]

Honestly, it’s a tough ask, this team I don’t think has the personnel to switch everything, also zones against teams with good shooting like Georgia and Latvia is a bad idea. Defensively this team I don’t think is equipped to handle these kind of teams

[thatweirdguy]

I don’t know but if CTC loves bolick, he would harvest him from Northport earlier…

If I remember correctly Bolick wasn't really happy being in NP and was just signing 1 year contracts. They only invited him AFTER he signed those contracts with NP. So free agent and under MVP Berto= no invite. Under contract with SMC= Gilas invite

[thatweirdguy]

We will need an offensive coordinator for that. As long as it makes the lives of our players easier on offense.

That 7 seconds or less Suns team couldn't defend to save their lives, though. Added defense in Raja Bell in 2007, but a stupid fight after a hip check, and choking the next 2 games, denied them an NBA Finals spot.

Loved those old Suns team. Honestly their defense suffered because Nash is pretty limited and Amare doesn't offer much on D and can't rebound well as they're trying to preserve his fouls. I remember him having game saving blocks and being much better defensively on end games as he's been given a green light to play more aggressively. Marion, Diaw, Bell, Johnson, Hill, Richardson ( Q and Jason) Dudley, Thomas, Amoundson and Lopez were excellent defenders though.

Wish we ran the same offence but I'll take whatever works. Dunno if TC is that creative though

[Metta]

Bennie's 6'10", e. I think he'll be a system defender at best like Carl and Quiambao. We need to get personnel to help him out. Best guy for that is AJ. The only local defenders on the team so far are Scottie, Newsome, Dwight, and AJ.

I have a feeling he sees a bit of Blatche in him. If they can replicate that Blatche-led Gilas team by 2028 (including the defense and chemistry), then it is indeed intriguing because this version will have more size. And beyond that is where I'm more interested. It's when our very promising "18-25" year old prospects come of age.

There's no way to sugarcoat it but we will have to resort to schemes when it comes to defense. We will never be man-for-man as good defensively as the higher-tier level teams. At the end of the day, we're not really expecting to be Olympic or World Cup champs. So that means we can't come up with a team that will have an answer for all types of teams. What we can do however is come up with a team and an identity than can upset certain "higher level" teams.

[IPC]

I have a feeling he sees a bit of Blatche in him. If they can replicate that Blatche-led Gilas team by 2028 (including the defense and chemistry), then it is indeed intriguing because this version will have more size. And beyond that is where I'm more interested. It's when our very promising "18-25" year old prospects come of age.

There's no way to sugarcoat it but we will have to resort to schemes when it comes to defense. We will never be man-for-man as good defensively as the higher-tier level teams. At the end of the day, we're not really expecting to be Olympic or World Cup champs. So that means we can't come up with a team that will have an answer for all types of teams. What we can do however is come up with a team and an identity than can upset certain "higher level" teams.

Just need to get a few defenders in key positions, then scheme. If we can't get more defensive bigs here, then ideally, we have more perimeter defenders who can fight screens, since AJ's injury-prone, and Kai looks to be limited to the interior. That's how Olympiacos had a good defense even with 7'2" Moustapha Fall (who I think is a good defender, just limited mobility due to size) and not so good defenders at the 4. Good perimeter defenders in Thomas Walkup, Giannoulis Larentzakis, and even Isaiah Canaan can fight screens.

We just had a few defenders in 2013 (Ping, Fonacier, Gabe, Douthit), but they were key, and we defended well throughout the tournament except in the final where we missed Douthit. We had Tab as a consultant, so our defense was going to be good.