Remember these names.
Marcus Douthit.
Japeth Aguilar.
Gabe Norwood.
Jeff Chan.
Jayson Castro.
June Mar Fajardo.
Ranidel De Ocampo.
Larry Fonacier.
Gary David.
LA Tenorio.
Marc Pingris.
Jimmy Alapag.
These are the guys who will don our colors, bear our cause, and bleed for national pride.
We will rise (or fall) with them. For better or for worse, this is OUR National Team.
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| Japeth Aguilar makes the final cut for Gila Pilipinas 2013. (image by Paul Ryan Tan) |
Strengths:
Size up front - With Douthit, Aguilar, and Fajardo, this Gilas roster is one of the biggest ever. They could've gone even bigger had they included Greg Slaughter, but speed would have suffered too.
Versatility - Ranidel and Japeth are good examples of stretch forwards -- big guys who can play in the paint and on the wings. Gabe can play all positions save for C. Coach Chot has a lot of options when shuffling his men.
Speed - Everyone runs. Boom.
Shooting - On a good day, most of these guys can hit from long range.
Weaknesses:
Inexperience - Only five (5) guys have prior FIBA Asia Men's Championship experience -- Douthit, Aguilar, Norwood, De Ocampo, and Alapag.
Size on the wings - De Ocampo and Norwood are the only ones who can really compare with the "international standards of size" for wingmen. Even guys like David, Chan, and Fonacier will get dwarfed.
Physicality - Or the lack of it. I think maybe only Ranidel and Ping are the bona fide enforcers here. Perhaps one or two more could've helped our team's "intimidation factor?" (read: Beau Belga & Sonny Thoss)
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| Gabe Norwood will have his work cut out for him in the wings. (image by Paolo Papa) |
Potential Position Battles: How does our roster stack up with the best of Asia?
Gilas Big Men: Douthit, Aguilar, Fajardo, De Ocampo, and Pingris
VERSUS
FIBA Asia Big Men: Hamed Haddadi (IRI), Loren Woods (LIB), Anton Ponomarev (KAZ), Yi Jianlian (CHN), Quincy Davis (TPE), Kosuke Takeuchi (JPN), Kim Joo-Sung (KOR)
-Despite this being one of the biggest frontlines in Philippine NT history, it will be a common sight to see other teams with even bigger frontcourts. I love our athleticism, though. Japeth, on a good day, can be a match-up nightmare and, well, Douthit can still pop even at the tender age of 33. The biggest potential headaches, definitely, are Haddadi and Yi.
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| Marcus Douthit is going to be a major factor in our success. (image by Paul Ryan Tan) |
Gilas Wingmen: Norwood, Chan, Fonacier, and David
VERSUS
FIBA Asia Wingmen: Samad Nikkhah Bahrami (IRI), Fadi El Khatib (LIB), Jimmy Baxter (JOR), Erfan Ali Saeed (QAT), Wang Shipeng (CHN), Lin Chih-Chieh (TPE), Kosuke Kanamaru (JPN), Cho Sung-Min (KOR)
-We have good shooters, but the best of FIBA Asia's wings are, honestly, even sharper. Bahrami, Fadi, and Baxter are all bigger than our boys, while Lin, Wang, Kanamaru, and Cho are some of the most consistent shooters in FIBA Asia history.
Gilas Playmakers: Jayson Castro, LA Tenorio, and Jimmy Alapag
VERSUS
FIBA Asia Playmakers: Mahdi Kamrani (IRI), Wesam Al Sous (JOR), Ali Mahmoud (LIB), Mansour El Hadary (QAT), Jerry Johnson (KAZ), Yang Dong-Geun (KOR), Ryota Sakurai (JPN)
-Our boys are fast enough to leave anybody in Asia in the dust, but Alapag is the only guy with experience at this level of play (and he's the third-stringer). Everyone has seen LA strut his stuff, which means Castro is the wildcard. How well he plays might be the ultimate barometer of how far Gilas goes.
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| Can Jimmy finally make a podium finish in the FIBA Asia tourney? (image by Pranz Kaeno Billones) |
Prognosis:
In my imagination, this is pretty much the Gilas roster I believe can really compete for a slot in the 2014 FIBA World Cup. I would have picked Slaughter, though, since, well, he's a skilled seven-footer who might have benefited greatly from the experience. Still, choosing Jimmy over Greg, Beau, and the rest is a nice pick that prioritizes experience and leadership. It's clear that the coaches aren't really building for future FIBA Asia tourneys, but, rather, are building a team to win RIGHT NOW.
And I think they will.
Go Pilipinas! Laban Pilipinas!
#parasabayan
12 Comment
nice, how about the final 12 man line up din nung ibang teams sir?? cant wait to read and hear your feedback about them also. thanks
Balaswaiting for them :) i think most of the teams will announce their final 12 by tomorrow pm :)
BalasI agree with your prognosis. Chot has been consistent in the belief that we will not be able to match up height-wise with teams like Iran and China, so he focused on one thing which we might have an edge over the rest of the field(except perhaps, South Korea), and this is speed. We're essentially playing to our strengths, as if saying, ok, we may not be as big as you, but let's see you try to keep pace with us. What I expect to see will be a lot of run and gun, hence, the need perhaps for 3 point guards since games will be played everyday and the dribble-drive offense necessitates fresh legs for it to work fluidly. I also expect to see a lot of trapping since our lineup seems built to put a lot of pressure on ball carriers and shooters.
BalasGood analysis! My big fear here is IF any of our bigs gets injured, it will be tough for us (at least size-wise) to match-up. Ang nipis na bigla. But, again, it does seem coach Chot chose to play to his side's strengths. Sana nga gumana.
Balasthanks, now our opponents can use this to know our players ,, tinagalog niyo na lang sana,
Balas^^ lol as if di nila kilala mga players natin tsk tsk...
Balasi dont know but its really hard to tell NOW that we have this so-called speed advantage over our opponents, noon oo. believe it or not japan and taipei are just as fast as us,more or less...also let us not be deceived that just because mid-east countries are taller/heftier means they are slow that we could breeze by them, i bet they can catch up with us and they will. the advantage i see, is that we still have the better thinking PGs and we know the value of having excellent PG/s. thou i agree that we will play to one of our strengths which is speed but wouldnt count on it alone. what i feel would be most critical is for our players to be in their deadliest shooting form - a must that we make our shots esp the open looks (we cannot allow a repeat of last years fiba shooting nightmare)as we will have it rarely...Imagine this, our players executing a specific play to a t, with speed and precision, only to fail because we cannot convert our shot, ouch! then throw in some real tough team defense as well. just my 2 cents...
BalasSir, won't Pingris be used more as a 3 for Gilas? For defense perhaps, since he is known to be an effective defender in the perimeter. Just my two cents. :)
BalasPLEASE PRACTICE FREE THROW. FREE THROW. FREE THROW. (thats all i can say)
Balaspansin niyo CHOKE tayo diyan lagi kapag crucial game.
dami ng pagkabigo ng pilipinas dahil sa missed free throw. alam niyo yan.
DIYAN MAGKAKATALO. SO PLEASE. SHOOT FREE THROW.
budz17
Balasadvantage natin depth nating.
yung ibang team 8 to 9 players lang ang reliable, tayo kahit 12th man (alapag) pwede pa rin
We have a speed advantage over the other teams? Have we not relied on our speed in the past too much only to be disappointed in the end? We could have gone big with Slaughter in the line up but Chot chose not to. In the end, lack of height will do us in.
BalasNot arguing with either of you. I agree there are other teams which might just be able to match up with us speed-wise(SoKor, Japan, Taipe). All I'm saying is that given the materials we have, speed might be one element that could give us an edge, no matter how slight, no matter how marginal. Last year's Jones Cup showed how our guards were a step quicker than their Middle-Eastern counterparts, and this helped create transition opportunities for us. Clicheic as it may sound, basketball is after all a game of split seconds and inches. But as ydaksb said, speed alone will not be enough. Totally agree that our shooting should be spot-on. And I think the dribble-drive offense will give us just that- good looks from outside created by our PGs or from kick-out passes from our bigs. Needless to say, our ball movement should be crisp too. And like Teodoro Asedillo, I would have wanted to see Slaughter in the line-up. I liked the twin tower combos we employed against the Shanghai Sharks- Douthit and Junmar, then Slaughter and Japeth off the bench.But it is what it is. Manipis ang frontline, as Enzo commented, but I guess the coaching staff has taken this into consideration. But I believe Marcus and Junmar can hold the fort at the center slot against the likes of Haddadi, Yi,Takeuchi, Davis, Woods. Except for Iran and China, the rest of the teams have PFs who are around 6'7-6'8. I think RDO, Japeth, Ping can hold their own against them. The coaching staff just has to be creative when we go up against China or Iran, which could very well happen in the crossover semis.
Balas