Philippines Senior National Team Thread Vol. V

[BJ_Reloaded]

basketball fans nowadays are more wiser and wittier compared to yesteryears.

whatever politics besetting Philippine basketball nowadays specifically why CTC and the rest of PBA/SBP/SMC/MVP group only (strictly?) select 12 players for the whole program up to the 2027 cycle considering injuries here and there are inevitable along the way for me, in my own personal opinion it's all about More Than Meets The Eye.

there's a lot of wheeling and dealing along the way behind curtains therefore we cannot blame those Grandpa if they think it's kindah difficult to strike a parley from the other outpost.

it is what it is, sadly those players we were hoping to included in some way are also a victim of these childish act IMH observation.

even in other NSA abroad they also had their own fair share of politics here and there.

indeed high profile professional sports are all high risk high reward.

[hmbopbaduwap]

From wing to guard for Dwight

https://www.spin.ph/basketball/fiba/cone-believes-dwight-ramos-chris-newsome-cj-perez-can-fill-void-left-by-scottie-a795-20240625?ref=home_featured_big

[JAMSKIE]

U can see the significant difference between a Dwight Ramos & a Calvin Oftana in terms being offensive options. If Oftana has the ball, limited lang talaga what he can do with ball. Dwight on the other hand becoz he has better handles than Oftana, can do a lot of things with the ball. Nagkakatalo talaga sa dribbling. U can see there that si Oftana pang small forward lang talaga while Dwight can play both the 2 & 3 positions with ease & can even play point guard becoz of his playmaking skills. Worse, malas pa yung 3-pt shooting kahapon ni Oftana but I'm confident he will get his rhythm in the next games.

[IPC]

Ateneo was definitely the low ceiling option. Remember Tab said Ateneo to NBA for Kai. No inbetweens. Do you really believe that? Ange, Tab's top prospect only ended in French D3 but Kai goes straight from Ateneo to NBA?
Also Kai and JMF together. Really bad idea vs better competition.

Yeah, that lineup will be picked apart by strong PnR offenses who spread the floor.

The only bigs who can reasonably pair with June Mar without compromising our defense as much are AJ and JB, and our defense is still compromised with a June Mar-JB pairing.

[JAMSKIE]

With the non-inclussion of Justin Baltazar in the current Gilas team/pool & this despite the inavailability of 3 Gilas players becoz of injuries, does this vindicate Baltazar's claim that SBP & coach Chot never invited him for Gilas in the 2023 FIBA World Cup? There are two contrasting claims eh, Baltazar & his camp claimed he didn't get any invite, on the other hand SBP & coach Chot claimed they invited Balti but he ignored the invitation. Somebody must be lying.

[Giannis34GOD]

Bolick is in MVP group, so chances are greater he can play for Gilas. Romeo when moved from TNT to SMC was supposed to play for us in Asian Games even if he was not in good terms with TNT when he left. Similarly with Koume

So Heading can still be part of Gilas, the question is does he want to and willing to play out his contract with Terra Firma like Holt's

Balti is clearly being advise by Pineda on his career choices

But SMC is already the major stakeholder of Gilas program today... It seems Al Chua is more powerful in SBP camp than before... Thus, Bolick can't play.. He dodge SMC harvest, So Al Chua retreat... If not for MVP's request, Bolick will get same treatment as Slaughter these days....

[IPC]

Yeah, Pogoy did make up for his poor performances in the past when he shot more decently in the WC. The only egregiously bad play he had was that stupid steal attempt against Angola.

I wouldn't really mind a lot of PBA players. Just pick the right ones, meaning the ones who have performed well, and the ones whose skillset can reasonably translate to the FIBA stage. Of course, age and roster balance has to be considered as well, and you may have to drop underperforming players.

As for the right PBA players, the only ones outside the pool I think would make sense immediately are 28yo Bolick (PG option), 27yo Navarro (defensive wing), 27yo Tuffin (3&D 2/3), and 26yo Carino (defensive big).

Guys like Javi, Mamu, Arvin, and Tio might/would need certain conditions to thrive without compromising the team. Mamu and Tio would need a facilitator next to them, or to train in bringing the ball up and initiating offenses. Javi and Arvin make sense only if we have more than one defensive wing, and they have at least one wing defender next to them.

After those, better to look elsewhere.

[C2Hamm]

With the non-inclussion of Justin Baltazar in the current Gilas team/pool & this despite the inavailability of 3 Gilas players becoz of injuries, does this vindicate Baltazar's claim that SBP & coach Chot never invited him for Gilas in the 2023 FIBA World Cup? There are two contrasting claims eh, Baltazar & his camp claimed he didn't get any invite, on the other hand SBP & coach Chot claimed they invited Balti but he ignored the invitation. Somebody must be lying.

im genuinely curious. will it really mean anything if we know the truth? if Balti wasnt invited, we just say CTC is a liar? if he was and the coaching just didnt like him for whatever reason, do we not follow Gilas because the coaching staff does not get players that fans want? if people are curious, go ra. its not bad to know. i just dont see the allure of knowing the truth of things that doesnt really do anything to improve the team given the limitations that are in place that we already know of.

[ARMIR]

Bolick is in MVP group, so chances are greater he can play for Gilas. Romeo when moved from TNT to SMC was supposed to play for us in Asian Games even if he was not in good terms with TNT when he left. Similarly with Koume

So Heading can still be part of Gilas, the question is does he want to and willing to play out his contract with Terra Firma like Holt's

Balti is clearly being advise by Pineda on his career choices

What's really surprised me now in youtube is the number of vloggers who picked up on this issue and they're quoting Snow,that Long Hair himself came out that he doesn't want Bolick and Abando on his team,there's supposed to be another one that's already on the team that he can't kick out,since he's the SBP pick.I wonder if its Dwight.

[Joe Yabuki]

i wouldnt trust anything Snow says, specially regarding the SMC camp, werent they the ones who kicked him out of the PBA

[Rds]

im genuinely curious. will it really mean anything if we know the truth? if Balti wasnt invited, we just say CTC is a liar? if he was and the coaching just didnt like him for whatever reason, do we not follow Gilas because the coaching staff does not get players that fans want? if people are curious, go ra. its not bad to know. i just dont see the allure of knowing the truth of things that doesnt really do anything to improve the team given the limitations that are in place that we already know of.

I just don't like reasons that are beyond basketball. This is supposed to be the national team. Nothing should be beyond this. But we know the reality is SMC will finance this. And that Chua is the biggest mover there because RSA himself doesn't make basketball decisions. We know AlChua has friends. But if the rumors are true, he takes slights seriously. It is not a big leap to say if he treats his friends very well then he treats those that slight him badly.

[ARMIR]

I just don't like reasons that are beyond basketball. This is supposed to be the national team. Nothing should be beyond this. But we know the reality is SMC will finance this. And that Chua is the biggest mover there because RSA himself doesn't make basketball decisions. We know AlChua has friends. But if the rumors are true, he takes slights seriously. It is not a big leap to say if he treats his friends very well then he treats those that slight him badly.

I'm also curious about the rumor or fact that there's a player in the Gilas roster that he doesn't like but he can't kick him out,since the said player is a SBP pick.I wonder if its Dwight,he was the one that was rumored to be asking more money for his services,and you wonder if making him the full time pg,its setting him up for a disastrous campaign on his shoulder.

[paliganibossalfrancis]

I'm also curious about the rumor or fact that there's a player in the Gilas roster that he doesn't like but he can't kick him out,since the said player is a SBP pick.I wonder if its Dwight,he was the one that was rumored to be asking more money for his services,and you wonder if making him the full time pg,its setting him up for a disastrous campaign on his shoulder.

this is all speculation. I doubt making him a full time pg is setting him up for a disastrous campaign as Tab Baldwin was preparing him for this since FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in 2021. They cannot exclude Dwight Ramos as he's a vital piece to the program for years to come. Remember there were instances in the World Cup when Dwight was the one bringing the ball up when JC was also on the floor as he is a legitimate threat from deep as well keeping the defenses honest and opening up the floor for JC to operate. Same formula with JB this time but with more ball movement.

[paliganibossalfrancis]

But SMC is already the major stakeholder of Gilas program today... It seems Al Chua is more powerful in SBP camp than before... Thus, Bolick can't play.. He dodge SMC harvest, So Al Chua retreat... If not for MVP's request, Bolick will get same treatment as Slaughter these days....

Tim Cone is known for short rotations. How well can Bolick take being benched and a reduced role? In his head he is a superstar; as a scorer he needs the ball all the time to be effective. Sadly that's now how Gilas works nowadays. Unless you're Justin brownlee or Jordan clarkson who are proven at this level and can takeover the game, you gotta swing the ball. Sometimes it's not politics but fit. Addition by subtraction.

[paliganibossalfrancis]

With the non-inclussion of Justin Baltazar in the current Gilas team/pool & this despite the inavailability of 3 Gilas players becoz of injuries, does this vindicate Baltazar's claim that SBP & coach Chot never invited him for Gilas in the 2023 FIBA World Cup? There are two contrasting claims eh, Baltazar & his camp claimed he didn't get any invite, on the other hand SBP & coach Chot claimed they invited Balti but he ignored the invitation. Somebody must be lying.

Question: Coming from an MPBL stint, will Balti's inclusion drastically improve Gilas?

Yes, Balti has potential but the timing is off. He chose to play in a subpar league for money and will get the chance again once he plays in the big leagues.