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| The Gilas 4.0 national pool looks to be the deepest ever. (image from FIBA) |
The recently released Philippine national pool for the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Manila may be the best one yet.
That's pretty significant, considering the team known as Gilas Pilipinas have had a lot of success these past handful of years in terms of making their mark in international basketball.
After consistently finishing outside the top five in the FIBA Asia Championship as far back as 1987, Gilas Pilipinas have placed among the top four in the last three competitions, coming in fourth in 2011 (Wuhan), second in 2013 (Manila) and second again in 2015 (Changsha-Hunan). Additionally, Gilas have placed among the top four in the last three iterations of the FIBA Asia Cup and participated in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
From being 63rd in the FIBA World Ranking Men in 2009, the Filipinos have climbed the ladder all the way up to their current rank of 28th. They are now the third-highest ranked Asian team after China (#14) and Iran (#17), and they are poised to make a lot of noise when they host one of the OQTs this July.
To ensure that the Philippines will continue their ascent and be as well-represented as possible in the OQT, bemedalled head coach Tab Baldwin has put together a pool of players made up of the very best of the country's professional hoopsters and the most promising young talents fresh from college.
The current 24-man pool for Gilas Pilipinas includes veterans from the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship like Marc Pingris, Terrence Romeo, Calvin Abueva, Gabe Norwood, Jayson Castro, Ranidel de Ocampo, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and naturalized player Andray Blatche. Aside from them, coach Tab has also tapped talented professionals Paul Lee, Jeff Chan, June Mar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter, Japeth Aguilar, Greg Slaughter, LA Tenorio, Troy Rosario, Mo Tautuaa, and Ryan Reyes - all of whom have been part of past national pools. To add more youth to the mix and make sure the program will have some continuity in the coming years, young guns Russell Escoto, RR Pogoy, Mac Belo, Kevin Ferrer, Kiefer Ravena and Bobby Ray Parks Jr. have also been called up.
Most Filipino fans were crossing their fingers that rising NBA star Jordan Clarkson would be included in the list, but the current Los Angeles Laker has yet to be cleared at the time of the submission of official national pool rosters. Still, despite the possibility of seeing a Blatche and Clarkson tandem leading the Philippines this year going up in smoke, Gilas Pilipinas's current pool can still be highly-regarded and, if I'm being completely objective, it may even be considered the deepest, most talent-laden Pinoy pool ever assembled.
One big reason for this is the return to the pool of veterans like Aguilar, Lee, Chan and Tenorio - all of whom were part of the team that played in Spain in 2014. Having Lassiter, whom many Filipino hoop nuts see as one of the country's top two or three wingmen, is also a big boost. He was a mainstay of the national team from 2009 to 2011, but has routinely been unable to join since making the jump to the PBA the past few years. Fajardo, of course, is the biggest fish here, since, as reigning PBA MVP, he is expected to make a huge splash for Gilas since last appearing in the 2014 Asian Games. Slaughter, a 2.11m (6ft 11in) Filipino-American behemoth, for his part, is hoping to finally make his debut at the world level after being part of Gilas in 2009-2010. If Fajardo and Slaughter make the final 12 and play solidly, they should make life much easier for Blatche, whose heft is under close watch from Philippine team officials after he was overweight in 2015.
Perhaps two relatively new names to watch here are Parks and Ravena, who were the two best collegiate talents of the Philippines these past handful of years before Parks chose to forego his final year of eligibility and test the NBA D-League waters. Now that Parks is back, he and Ravena are expected to have pretty strong chances of making the final twelve given their talent and vast potential. Both are second generation basketball stars, with Kiefer being the son of former pro Bong Ravena and Bobby Ray, Jr. the son of former PBA import Bobby Ray Parks. Ravena and Parks are built to be effective perimeter players who can learn a lot from the likes of Castro, Norwood, Chan, Lassiter and, of course, Romeo.
.@ray15parks in with a chance to play for Gilas at #FIBAOQT on home soil: https://t.co/aFTZLi6eiB pic.twitter.com/m7V9Vnxaft— FIBA (@FIBA) May 4, 2016
Coach Tab has formed a very deep core of players for his national pool, and his task of trimming it down is definitely unenviable. Size will be a big factor to consider given how big both France and New Zealand, which are grouped with the Philippines in the OQT, are. Shooting and speed - two traditional strengths of the Filipinos - shouldn't be sacrificed, though, and that's where guys like Castro, Romeo and Lassiter should come in.
How ready this team will be when the OQT kicks off will highly depend on how healthy their key guys (e.g. Blatche and Castro) will be and which players are able to best adjust to the demands of international basketball and coach Tab’s system. For sure, however, coach Tab has one of the best collections of Philippine players in this pool, and that can only lead to good things for the basketball-crazed nation.
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BOBBY RAY PARKS JR. GETTING SOME LOVE!
BalasSEASON AVE. IN THE NBA D-LEAGUE FOR THE TEXAS LEGENDS
PPG
4.6
RPG
1.91
APG
0.8
BPG
0.09
SPG
0.56
MPG
13.3
here is my final 12 players to be chosen for the OQT
Balas1 - Jayson Castro, Terrence Romeo, Paul Lee
2 - Jeff Chan, Marci Lassiter (or Ryan Reyes = combo 2 or 3, RPjr = combo 1 or 2 and athleticism )
3 - Ranidel de Ocampo, Gabe Norwood, Calvin Abueva (or Troy Rosario = 3-D, MGR = Gabe Norwood protege)
4 - Andray Blatche, Japeth Aguilar (or Marc Pingris = Energizer of the team - only setback is his height against other 4)
5 - June Mar Fajardo, Greg Slaughter