AS EXPECTED, the Philippine men’s basketball team breezed past the competition in the just-concluded 2017 Southeast Asian Basketball Men’s Championship (SEABA). Dominating was Gilas Pilipinas that it defeated its regional opponents by an average margin of 59 points in the weeklong event.
But while Gilas had it “easy” in said tournament, the SEABA nonetheless provided ample lessons for the national team which it hopes to arm itself with as it takes on bigger challenges ahead.
“The good thing about tournaments like this is the interactions that I always look forward to, talking to Tim Lewis of Thailand, and Coach Donte Hill of Vietnam, Coach Frank Arsego of Singapore, and Coach Wahyu Widayat Jati of Indonesia. I always take an opportunity to talk and exchange ideas,” said Gilas Coach Chot Reyes following their 97-64 win over Indonesia on the final day of SEABA competition last Thursday, which formally booked for the team tickets to the FIBA Asia Cup and FIBA World Cup Qualifiers happening later this year.
“Also, I think the most important lessons we got here are those that the players learned about themselves and about each other. For me, personally, I think there were some things that the other coaches were doing which I think we can incorporate in how we do things both offensively and defensively,” he added.
Mr. Reyes went on to say that tournament also reminded them that in sports anything can happen, which is why one should come into every competition with respect to opponents and value hard work.
“A lot of them (competing teams) told their teams to also relish the opportunity of playing the Philippines, because obviously of our talent and our size. But like I said in past interviews, this is the same as us coming out and playing the best in the world. When we go out and play the best teams in the world, we also use the opportunity to learn, and the only way we can really develop is to continue playing teams like those,” said Mr. Reyes, whose team was branded as an “overkill” heading into the tournament for fielding in what many considered a loaded team relative to the kind of opponents it was to face.
“We know how it feels to be on the opposite end of things, and I kept reminding my players to remember when we go up against the quote-unquote super powers of basketball, in Europe and Latin America, they could not be so sure when they face us. So I told them the same thing here. Even if we are heavily favored, we could not be too complacent because that’s the essence of sports. Anything can happen,” the coach highlighted.
Now gotten clarity as to what is ahead of them, Mr. Reyes said the order of battle includes sitting down with various stakeholders of the team, particularly with the Philippine Basketball Association and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, Inc., to chart the best path to take as they move forward.
“We purposely did not put a concrete plan in place until we won SEABA first. I said, ‘Let’s win this first.’ And now that we know that we’re going to the World Cup qualifiers, we can sit down and put a plan together,” he said.
“We just have to sit down, put our heads together to find a way, and find the best possible solution, the best possible scenario. I think we have a good group, I think we have the potential to be a really good, strong team. But I also understand that there are other interests and there are other needs that prevail. We just have to be very creative and figure out the best way forward,” added Mr. Reyes, who also mentioned the availability of naturalized player Andray Blatche as among the things they have to tackle.
Playing in the Chinese Basketball Association, Mr. Blatche’s status in Gilas for future tournaments has been put up in the air with FIBA shifting to a new calendar and competition system that may run in conflict with the schedule of the Chinese league.
Mr. Blatche incidentally was Gilas’ top scorer and rebounder in the 2017 SEABA with averages of 14 points and eight rebounds.
The Philippines is set to compete in the FIBA Asia Cup in August in Beirut, Lebanon, and in the FIBA World Cup 2019 Qualifiers in November where it is lumped in Group B along with Australia, Japan and Chinese-Taipei.