Philippines Senior National Team Thread Vol. V

[IPC]

For perspective, the 6'7 Korean star in his team has a 6'8 wingspan. So even if that guy has 3 inches on him, KQ can reach better than him.

Majority of the time on defense, you're defending horizontally/laterally with arms sideways, where the top of your head reaches when you stand up straight doesn't matter. Then when you contest the shot, you use your arms/hands not you're forehead.

On offense, big hands (with soft touch) and long arms also makes things easier.

And strength can be improved, but length can not.

Undersized for 4, but if he makes it as an exception, it will be due to his ability (passing, shooting) and length, e.

I think if you're gonna make it as an undersized player at 3, 4, and 5, you will need to have some combination of great ability, motor, athleticism, length, and strength. 6'2" Abueva had motor and athleticism. 6'4" Ping had motor, athleticism, and strength, if I remember. 6'5" RDO was a good shooter.

[Metta]

I agree. I am a wingspan over height guy. However, there is one case where wingspan is minimized a bit that is the post. As I’ve seen in two games now KQs wingspan is countered a bit by a stronger taller guy in the post. I think his team also sees this. I believe they will try to train him more as an SF. It will be a big challenge though. They failed when they tried to train Dave from an SF to a guard.

Unless the defenders have a significant wingspan advantage on him, it's usually a strength issue. Taller guys have more body so they can pack on more muscle/strength.

He needs to get stronger and more importantly, learn about leverage/positioning like Pingris/Draymond.

I also think he should continue training to be an SF. Long wingspan also helps in lack of lateral speed.

His wingspan basically makes him as effective as someone who's 6'6 or even 6'7, he's not an ordinary 6'3 guy which people are going crazy about. But is 6'6 enough for a big man in today's international game...not really.

[thatweirdguy]

Unless the defenders have a significant wingspan advantage on him, it's usually a strength issue. Taller guys have more body so they can pack on more muscle/strength.

He needs to get stronger and more importantly, learn about leverage/positioning like Pingris/Draymond.

I also think he should continue training to be an SF. Long wingspan also helps in lack of lateral speed.

His wingspan basically makes him as effective as someone who's 6'6 or even 6'7, he's not an ordinary 6'3 guy which people are going crazy about. But is 6'6 enough for a big man in today's international game...not really.

Artest used to be so good defensively as bigmen cannot just pushed him around and can keep up with perimeter players too despite being on around 6'5 something. Chuck Hayes too.

KQ looked like he dropped some weight. Dunno what their plan for him is though. We got Aj, Kai, Carl, NP* , QMB* Philips* who can play the bigmen positions. Might be easier to slot him in the 3 spot

[ARMIR]

Artest used to be so good defensively as bigmen cannot just pushed him around and can keep up with perimeter players too despite being on around 6'5 something. Chuck Hayes too.

KQ looked like he dropped some weight. Dunno what their plan for him is though. We got Aj, Kai, Carl, NP* , QMB* Philips* who can play the bigmen positions. Might be easier to slot him in the 3 spot

Come off the bench 3,but I don't see him in big FIBA tournaments if CTC has all his tall SF in the team not counting his combo forwards.

[Metta]

Come off the bench 3,but I don't see him in big FIBA tournaments if CTC has all his tall SF in the team not counting his combo forwards.

Like I mentioned in the other thread, I think his value in Gilas will be his shooting.

Growing up, he wasn't considered/relied upon as a shooter because he brought so much more to the table. But with his SGA stint and final year with DLSU, he showed he's a really good shooter.

If he further develops it, I think he has the potential to be an elite shooter. That's a Gilas need he can fill along with his passing.

[BJ_Reloaded]

for the coming final window this Feb. I do hope Carl, Kevin and Mason should step up on the next level their assertiveness

in preparation for FIBA Asia Cup.

honestly, as a fan I'm holding back a little bit because those dudes alongside AJ and Jaime are glassy with the exception of Mason

who haven't experience any major "ouch". (ilayo po ng sampung layo, wag po sana).

with the imminent entry of QMB and the exemption of AK34

and the buzzing around that Ron Jr and Caelum Harris possible inclusion to the pool moving forward (that's the way it has to be)

Gilas now has the tools to compete against the AUS combo of Team B + C and TB's combo of Team A + B for the Gold medal match

but that would only be possible if the SBP bosses diligently works on the papers of those ballers.

let set aside the narrative about Kai this year. let him heal the natural way.

that's the initial murmuring that I've heard, I hope it's 100 percent confirm.

honestly going under the knife is a different thing.

[JAMSKIE]

Its kinda frustrating that we can't produce quality NCAA Div. 1 players in the US while other Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Iran, China, & even Taiwan have already produced one or two (or even more). Kung maka produce man tayo, hindi naman FIBA eligible as in the cases of Jordan Clarkson, Jalen Green, Ron Harper, Jr., Dylan Harper.

I just hope that the rumor that 6-foot-9 Kamaka Hepa is FIBA-eligible is true & that Hepa would be interested to play for Gilas. I think Hepa did well playing in an NCAA div. 1 school in the US.

[lem0nadi]

Its kinda frustrating that we can't produce quality NCAA Div. 1 players in the US while other Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Iran, China, & even Taiwan have already produced one or two (or even more). Kung maka produce man tayo, hindi naman FIBA eligible as in the cases of Jordan Clarkson, Jalen Green, Ron Harper, Jr., Dylan Harper.

I just hope that the rumor that 6-foot-9 Kamaka Hepa is FIBA-eligible is true & that Hepa would be interested to play for Gilas. I think Hepa did well playing in an NCAA div. 1 school in the US.

We did produce some quality NCAA Division 1-eligible players. Matthew Wright spent his four years at St. Bonaventure University, a team in the Atlantic 10 Conference, where he averaged 16.3 PPG in his final season. Jordan Heading played at California Baptist University, a team in the Western Athletic Conference. While both of them played at low-major programs, it’s still NCAA Division 1, so we got to see their caliber of play. Matthew Wright did decently with Gilas, became a superstar in the PBA, and is still a quality player in the B.League. As for Jordan Heading, we all know what he's doing now and the quality of player he has become. He should definitely still be a locked-in spot for Gilas.

I noticed a pattern: both of them weren’t really homegrown players. They just happened to play for our youth team during their teenage years, which made them eligible to play as locals in Gilas.

We also had Dalph Panopio and AJ Edu from Kai’s batch. Kai would have been our very first US NCAA player who could have played in a high-major program. I still regret that he didn’t get offers from Auburn, Georgia Tech, and even Kentucky, which this article mentions: “At least seven universities are believed to be interested in Sotto, with the youngster detailing his visits to Auburn, Georgia Tech, and the most successful college in NCAA basketball history, Kentucky.” It makes me wonder why his agent missed these opportunities.

After Kai’s batch, we also had Caelum Harris, who committed to a mid-major program with Nevada. Unfortunately, eligibility issues happened, but he is still with an NJCAA Division 1 program. The key here is to get those Fil-foreigners to play on our youth team so they can be locked into their local status with Gilas. From there, it’s up to them to see where they end up in the US. Jacob Bayla and Alex Konov were also low-major Division 1 NCAA players at least. For our homegrown players, it would take a generational talent like Kai Sotto or Andy Gemao (hopefully he gets it done) to make it to the US NCAA.

Japan is taking the Fil-foreigner route to have US NCAA Division 1 players. Most of their eligible US NCAA Division 1 players right now are Black-Japanese. The exception is their generational talent, homegrown player Yuto Kawashima, who is currently playing at Seattle. We actually have a similar path as them in terms of producing US NCAA Division 1 players. The pattern seems to be: scout an eligible Fil-foreign kid, get them to play for our youth team, let them grow in the US afterward, and if they’re talented enough for Division 1, then here we go.

Here’s an article about how Kai Sotto was highly touted in college back then. What could have been damn.

https://www.olympics.com/en/news/basketball-filipino-kai-sotto-college-decision-georgia

[FilWelsh]

We cannot claim that Wright, Heading and Panopio are products of our basketball program as they spent only one summer or tournament for our youth systems. Most of their basketball fundamentals they learned and fine-tuned are 90% from their country of origin…. Edu is different as he played for Philippines more than 2 international youth tournaments both in 5x5 and 3x3…

[lem0nadi]

We cannot claim that Wright, Heading and Panopio are products of our basketball program as they spent only one summer or tournament for our youth systems. Most of their basketball fundamentals they learned and fine-tuned are 90% from their country of origin…. Edu is different as he played for Philippines more than 2 international youth tournaments both in 5x5 and 3x3…

I am talking about our country itself producing them. I mean yes, they are not product of our basketball program (SBP). I literally said that they weren't homegrown, making them more of being foreign player who somehow became local for us. But hey, they do have filipino blood, thus it is valid to acknowledge them as the product of the Philippines itself.

Also, wasn't Edu also fine-tuned in UK/US? We just got him for his stint in 5x5 and 3x3, it's not like he stay in the Philippines after those stint. We don't even know if he did have a basketball background in the Philippines prior to his youth stint.

If Heading, Wright, Panopio can't be consider as product of our basketball program, so is Edu.

I can only consider a player as a product of our local basketball program, if he is homegrown. But it's just my opinion.

Whether they are product of our basketball program or not, they still have filipino blood, thus making them product of the country itself.

[Rds]

I am talking about our country itself producing them. I mean yes, they are not product of our basketball program (SBP). I literally said that they weren't homegrown, making them more of being foreign player who somehow became local for us. But hey, they do have filipino blood, thus it is valid to acknowledge them as the product of the Philippines itself.

Also, wasn't Edu also fine-tuned in UK/US? We just got him for his stint in 5x5 and 3x3, it's not like he stay in the Philippines after those stint. We don't even know if he did have a basketball background in the Philippines prior to his youth stint.

If Heading, Wright, Panopio can't be consider as product of our basketball program, so is Edu.

I can only consider a player as a product of our local basketball program, if he is homegrown. But it's just my opinion.

Whether they are product of our basketball program or not, they still have filipino blood, thus making them product of the country itself.

I think the main difference between JP Hafus and Filfors is that they actually developed theirs. Hachimura played in JP until senior high school. Most of their Hafus are homegrowns. Unfortunatey I don't agree with you. Basketball speaking I consider only homegrowns or those who played HS basketball locally as our product. JP Hafus are not comparable to foreign bred Filfors. Hachimura is more like Abueva or Castro, born and bred locally. The only difference is he was trained to have perimeter skills early on and he was good enough to join a D1 school and then became a full-fledged NBA player.

[lem0nadi]

I think the main difference between JP Hafus and Filfors is that they actually developed theirs. Hachimura played in JP until senior high school. Most of their Hafus are homegrowns. Unfortunatey I don't agree with you. Basketball speaking I consider only homegrowns or those who played HS basketball locally as our product. JP Hafus are not comparable to foreign bred Filfors. Hachimura is more like Abueva or Castro, born and bred locally. The only difference is he was trained to have perimeter skills early on and he was good enough to join a D1 school and then became a full-fledged NBA player.

Fair enough, I stand corrected on that part. I did not know that Hachimura actually played high school basketball in Japan lol. I might include Akira Jacobs as a homegrown since he already played as a developmental player in BLeague. I got carried away of them being half-foreign that I did not realize most of them actually played in Japan prior to their youth stint.

[thatweirdguy]

Aside from Japeth and Ael Banal who are the other homegrown players who played college ball in the US? There was a tall chinoy who took medicine who's name escapes me

[Silent Killer]

Aside from Japeth and Ael Banal who are the other homegrown players who played college ball in the US? There was a tall chinoy who took medicine who's name escapes me

gian Chiu.. now a doctor

[Metta]

Aside from Japeth and Ael Banal who are the other homegrown players who played college ball in the US? There was a tall chinoy who took medicine who's name escapes me

The great Kobe P.

Kobe actually did the smartest /most efficient way to get into D1 (similar to the LaVar blueprint).

It starts with the genes. Identify a child who has tall parents with athletic backgrounds. Train them early as guards. Make it a goal to get into a US high school that's a basketball powerhouse and/or a travel team sponsored by shoe companies (he got into Compton Magic and thus got included in Adidas elite camps). Attend elite camps/exposure tournaments as much as possible before senior year of high school (he got his offer during junior year).

He did everything right up to that point and got into D1.