Philippines Senior National Team Thread Vol. V

[mathematicianrcg]

I like Idelfonso's potential. I am not sure if his handles are better than Dwight. But for someone who only resumed playing exclusively in the perimeter in Gilas they are impressive. He seems to have a good vision. One thing he needs at the international level is a goto to move. It will probably need to be a floater. I think he needs to go to the B league.

Dave had the reputation of being a ballhog. Happy for him that he is upgrading his playmaking too.

[JAMSKIE]

I don't think Thirdy has a scorer's ego like Kobe. So far in the B league, he has been pretty consistent with his mentality and defense. He also plays well in the system of coach Tab. There might be a difference of opinion regarding Thirdy, but for Dave? I think he has the potential to be a combo guard and he looks better than Dwight regarding handles, but I am not closing the door on Dwight either, because yes, in the B league he had some really bad stretches, but I also saw him play better in the PG in other games. I will give Dwight a year or two before completely closing the door on him being a combo guard.

Agree with this. We can see that Thirdy doesn't get frustrated if he doesn't get the touches. The same can't be said about Kobe Paras.

Perhaps Thirdy knows & acknowledges his limits & shortcomings better than Kobe does.

No need to elaborate, everyone here knows what I'm implying.

[IPC]

Agree with this. We can see that Thirdy doesn't get frustrated if he doesn't get the touches. The same can't be said about Kobe Paras.

Perhaps Thirdy knows & acknowledges his limits & shortcomings better than Kobe does.

No need to elaborate everyone here knows what I'm implying.

Despite that fact, Thirdy is averaging more points on a better percentage than Kobe.

[JAMSKIE]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Which may suggest that Thirdy is taking less ill-advised shots than Kobe does. Or Thirdy isn't as eager to shoot/score as Kobe is.

[Rodbi]

No Rosario in the mix? he can be a good back up forward for Gilas and still young at 28... Especially that Baltazar and Tamayo's availability will be tested once UAAP will come back soon... I'm still believe that he's still a worthy of a call up.. I remember Tab is always putting Rosario in his line up when available..

Right now, as I see it, he's most comfortable at the 4-spot and I don't see him suddenly becoming effective at 3. He's better off emulating Kelly Williams' play style for the last 5 years as he's got his athleticism still going for him. Better to maximize that while still reaching his prime.

[IPC]

Aside from JMF and Greg to an extent. 6'10-"7'0 commonly sucks even at pba. Like Sam Emman and Isaac Holstein.

6'6-6'9" are the norm talented Bigman in the Pba. Sanggalang, Standhardinger, Japeth, Erram, etc.

Fans always wanted for 6'6 Players to be Guards, or at least a Forward. But with the lack of dominant 6'10 and above LEGIT centers, it will be hard.

So it is expected for pba to still have 6'6 as their bigs.

I just Hope 6'5-6'6 Players like Oftana who is a wing will not be forced to be a traditional PF/C. Same fate with adams

Plus, we have an All-Filipino conference, and an import conference with a 6'5"-6'6" height limit for imports, which would make it hard for 6'6" bigs to even have the opportunity to play even the PF.

I do hope that someday our 6'6"-6'8" bigs can play PF, kahit traditional PF man lang. They just need the opportunity. Giving them playing time alongside 6'10"+ imports will help with that.

And Obviously Pba teams will go for a talented 6'5 Wing or Combo Forward like Brownlee.

Hence, no choice for the 6'6 local but to play as a BIG.

Unless you have a 5 out system like TNT where Kelly plays Perimeter even if he is at Center.

Thankfully here in Gilas, our 6'7"-6'9" homegrown bigs are capable of playing 4. Go, Baltazar, Cariño, Chiu, Tamayo, and hopefully Lepalam. Plus, we have Kouame to man the 5, allowing our local bigs the opportunity to play 4.

We also have 6'5"-6'6" players who can play 3. Navarro, Kobe, Oftana, Javi, Dwight, and Dave.

[mathematicianrcg]

Thankfully here in Gilas, our 6'7"-6'9" homegrown bigs are capable of playing 4. Go, Baltazar, Cariño, Chiu, Tamayo, and hopefully Lepalam. Plus, we have Kouame to man the 5, allowing our local bigs the opportunity to play 4.

We also have 6'5"-6'6" players who can play 3. Navarro, Kobe, Oftana, Javi, Dwight, and Dave.

Yeah Gilas College Pool are Generally Taller. Espevially if u will add Overseas based Kai and AJ.

[IPC]

Yeah Gilas College Pool are Generally Taller. Espevially if u will add Overseas based Kai and AJ.

And our tall players in Gilas, especially in the frontline, are matching the previous iteration in terms of talent.

Our 3-4-5 corps once consisted of Gabe, RDO, Ping, Japeth, Blatche, and June Mar, with Abueva and Troy being added. Now, we have Navarro, Dwight, Tamayo, Baltazar, Kouame, Kai, and Go, plus Oftana and Javi.

I think the frontline talent of this Gilas version can match, even exceed that of 2013-15, and it's probably already a match right now. And they're already tall without sacrificing much quickness, and still have room to grow.

[thatweirdguy]

And our tall players in Gilas, especially in the frontline, are matching the previous iteration in terms of talent.

Our 3-4-5 corps once consisted of Gabe, RDO, Ping, Japeth, Blatche, and June Mar, with Abueva and Troy being added. Now, we have Navarro, Dwight, Tamayo, Baltazar, Kouame, Kai, and Go, plus Oftana and Javi.

I think the frontline talent of this Gilas version can match, even exceed that of 2013-15, and it's probably already a match right now. And they're already tall without sacrificing much quickness, and still have room to grow.

I think we also improved in shooting. All of the new guys are a threat to hit a 3

[PaVi]

I don't think Thirdy has a scorer's ego like Kobe. So far in the B league, he has been pretty consistent with his mentality and defense. He also plays well in the system of coach Tab. There might be a difference of opinion regarding Thirdy, but for Dave? I think he has the potential to be a combo guard and he looks better than Dwight regarding handles, but I am not closing the door on Dwight either, because yes, in the B league he had some really bad stretches, but I also saw him play better in the PG in other games. I will give Dwight a year or two before completely closing the door on him being a combo guard.

Issac Go looked back to form in the King's Cup. If Erram will not be available in Febuary, I would put him instead.

In the lineup given above, i really think thirdy is the weakest.
Dwight, Parks, are solid combo for me.
Cj and navarro, with the unique skillset they bring, can be considered a shoo-in for a consideration. Hence my view that thirdy's approach is not worth considering for now. Since i am a fan of him before, i am raising my expectation of him to the level of castro and rdo. and since i am also a fan of dave's abilities and potential, thus i prefer him over thirdy right now.

Ofcourse, on top of the 6 mentioned, i think Balti is the guy who can play the wing and forward position, bar none. Just like Kouame being the guy for the pf/c position.

[IPC]

Kouame 4/5
Lepalam 4/5
Erram 4/5
Baltazar 3/4
Tamayo 3/4

This is a good tall and versatile froncourt.



Navarro 3/4
Oftana 3/4
Paras 3/4
Javi 3/4
Parks 2/3
Ramos 2/3
Credo 2/3
Dave 2/3
Thirdy 2/3

Our options at the forward and swingman positions.

This is an exciting time. The best thing is, there might be other potentially versatile kids in those height ranges that are not yet in the team. Hopefully they get discovered and invited to the Gilas pool eventually.

However, as exciting as I find our newfound two-way versatility to be, it will have to win consistently in order for that versatility to stay with us. I hope we do win, though, and I'm feeling pretty confident this upcoming WC qualifiers. The Asia Cup will be the real test, though.

I only hope that our versatile guys are available for at least the main tournament, and are with teams that are willing to lend them for that tournament.

[IPC]

Any pocket tournaments they can join? Thinking about it with how they performed in the King Abdullah Cup I’m not sure how far they’ll go in the Asia Cup.

I think there's a Dubai tournament in January. Hope that pushes through, and that Gilas can participate. There's a problem in that it might coincide with a window, however.

There might be another King's Cup, but that's after the FIBA Asia Cup.

[mathematicianrcg]

And our tall players in Gilas, especially in the frontline, are matching the previous iteration in terms of talent.

Our 3-4-5 corps once consisted of Gabe, RDO, Ping, Japeth, Blatche, and June Mar, with Abueva and Troy being added. Now, we have Navarro, Dwight, Tamayo, Baltazar, Kouame, Kai, and Go, plus Oftana and Javi.

I think the frontline talent of this Gilas version can match, even exceed that of 2013-15, and it's probably already a match right now. And they're already tall without sacrificing much quickness, and still have room to grow.

Yeah. And we are still have players under our sleeves.

Now for Guards position.

The Talent(Both scoring and playmaking) of Castro, Alapag, and Tenorio will be hard to exceed.( Even if they are small)

Best Candidates would be Kiefer and Bolick, and then maybe Juan and Dalph.

[IPC]

That Seven kid was already in coach TB's radar, it's just a matter of time when will it be...stay tune.

This is great news if he is indeed in Tab's radar. I hope he does end up in the Gilas pool. He looks like an intriguing bigman prospect with the way he's developing and training.

I hope the Tab's radar part is true.

[IPC]

What matters more is the collective height in the bigmen position. That's what it is nowadays.

Last satuday, Zhou Qi got injured but China had a handful of bigmen to punish smaller Japan. That's what talent depth is all about.

Very much agree. Depth is really a must for a team. Under normal or usual circumstance having a reliable & competent starting five would be enough but in circumstances like injury to a key player (like what happened to Zhou Qui) or a key player gets into foul trouble or getting ejected for a technical foul or a key player having an off night, that is when having a deep bench would count a lot.

Also, in the China-Japan 2-game series, it showed the importance of having a skilled 7-foot center in a team. So who's saying that tall centers with traditional skill set are already passe in modern day basketball? I have maintained that in Asian basketball level a skilled & good size center like a Wang Zhizhi or a Yao Ming or a Hamed Hadadi or a Ahmed Al-Dwairi would still be a big plus factor specially when facing a team with smaller/shorter centers or centers with inferior skills.

In as much as everybody believes that one very important factor for success in "world" level basketball is having good size & highly skilled small forwards & "stretch-fours" with wingmen skills, I still strongly believe that in "Asian" level basketball, mas may impact pa rin yung having a very skilled 7-foot center in the mold of a Wang Zhizhi, a Yao Ming, a Hamed Haddadi, Zhou Qui or an Ahmed Al Dwairi. Let's face it, apart from Yuta Watanabe & Rui Hachimura (and maybe 2 or 3 more players), there aren't any Asian small forwards & stretch-fours out there who are skilled, big & athletic enough to excel in the "world" level.

In Philippine basketball for instance, Baltazar, Tamayo, Will Navarro, Dwight Ramos, Kobe Paras, may be good enough for the Asian level but in the world level, these players would just be very averaged or at best, slightly above averaged players. Believe me when I say that si Kai Sotto (I'm referring to a Kai Sotto reaching his peak) pa rin ang magiging sandalan natin both in Asian & world level basketball. Kai would still be the difference maker for Gilas. Let's face it, we won't be having players in the mold of a Hachimura or Watanabe anytime soon. What would we be having in the near future would be a highly skilled 7-foot-2 player in Kai Sotto whom I expect to be within the level of a Wang Zhizhi, Hamed Haddadi, Zhou Qui & Ahmed Al Dwairi.

Kai would be our difference maker & not the highly skilled, athletic & good size small forwards & stretch-4's (of world level) that unfortunately doesn't exist in Phi basketball at this moment.

Hopefully we have the roster to challenge for that. We have Kai and Kouame to man the post. The key to our success will be our bigs. Kai, Kouame, and even our post-operators at the 4 spot, which are Tamayo and Baltazar. That is going to be our edge. For us to succeed, our fours and fives need to be fed.