Lost in China: Reflections

Lost in China: Reflections

When this bleacher bum goes to a place he has never visited before, he doesn’t mind getting lost, literally getting lost; to get to know the place as much as possible: the people, culture, food, the sights and more. While spending time in Guangzhou and Foshan in China however, I had a funny feeling that the team I was rooting for also got lost in the hugeness of China, or was it lost in this massive event called the FIBA World Cup? It was something that we wished didn’t happen, but did. I’m fine with getting lost, knowing that I’ll surely find my way back to my hotel and eventually my home sweet home of Cebu, loaded with notes of experience, learning many new and interesting things and hoping to use these to become a better and more well-rounded person. I’m sure Gilas Pilipinas and the entire basketball-mad country also feels exactly the same way and will bounce back humbled and raring to step up to the plate and level up with the rest of the FIBA.

Where/what are the learning points for Gilas? Let me cite (in general) possible opportunities of learning which the program can review, re-visit and revise for the better. Not in any particular order, I’m looking at our basketball program/system, player availability and preparation as starting points. By program, we’re referring to the over-all program’s goals for the next years leading up to our hosting of the FIBA World Cup in 2023. What do we want to achieve by then? How strong of a team do we want to form by 2023? Knowing that winning it all is a long shot, what are realistic targets that we can set? This is something that has to involve not only the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas but all the major stakeholders, notably the PBA, UAAP, NCAA and the Fil-Am/Fil-foreigner segments. By system, we refer to the style of play that we need to implement if we are to make an impact in the FIBA World Cup. So much has been said about the way we play the game and how it doesn’t fit the international game. While it may be good for TV, showbiz and the spotlights, I’m afraid this might not work in the international scene. Our hero-ball, one-on-one, razzle-dazzle, give me the ball concept works maybe for our local scene, but will it click in the world scene? We saw not only a glimpse of this but a magnifying lens look at how our style was overwhelmed by the dribble less-move the ball-screen-cut-move without the ball and bury the triple routine displayed by Italy, Serbia and Tunisia. Funny but in Angola, we were like playing a twin brother who also got lost in China, weren’t we? As for the technical details, I’ll leave that to the geniuses of the X’s and O’s.

Player availability for national team duty is another crucial element in putting up a competitive team made for the international scene. We need players who are willing to put their bodies on the line “para sa bayan.” We need to bring out that “puso” in the way we play, knowing that we’re up against the Goliaths from Europe and the Americas. Every single player on the team must be of the same mold and on the same wavelength. Nothing less. This however is a sensitive thing as it will involve the PBA and its calendar of tournaments. I’m not sure exactly how much time the whole team was able to practice as an entire squad together, but I’m pretty sure it was shortlived. Gone are the days of two-month training camps before a big event and regular practice sessions as a team during a PBA season. The new FIBA World Cup Qualifying system may not have worked for us as the “FIBA windows” of qualifying games were just short jousts squeezed in between here and there. But then again, this was a system that was applied to the entire FIBA world and not just us. Thus the need to review the kind of program and system that should be applied given the situation. If there’s a window of learning, we can probably pick up a few tips from the FIFA that declares FIFA windows throughout the year not only for competitions but also for friendly games. During these windows, professional clubs allow their stars to work out and play for their respective countries.

This leads to preparation time for a big event. It isn’t a secret that San Miguel and Talk N Text were playing in a championship series that ended weeks before the start of the FIBA World Cup. When this was going on, it crossed my mind to go back to the good old days of a one-game sudden death finale so that June Mar Fajardo, Roger Pogoy and Troy Rosario can join the national team at practice asap. But chances of that happening are practically nil, zilch and nada. What I really appreciate about Coach Yeng Guiao is that he has never used “lack of practice” as an excuse on why the team has played this way. Deep inside, we all know that Coach Yeng would’ve loved to have the longest possible training camp in the same way that some of the past national teams did. No coach, no matter how brilliant he is, can whip a squad into FIBA World Cup competitive level in a matter of just weeks, or did I hear you say days?

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We can’t end this with some interesting facts that might should put everything in the proper perspective. China, which has prepared for this since 2014, didn’t make it past the first round. And neither did Turkey, a team that was four free throws away from stunning the U.S. Ditto for Canada, New Zealand and Germany, teams that are ranked up there with the heavyweights. And before I forget, Gilas wasn’t the only team to go 0-3 in group play as so did Iran, Jordan, Korea and Japan, countries that are so familiar with us. They too, got lost in China. So if a team like China got lost in its own backyard, how could we expect Gilas not to get lost? Make sense?

Xie xie.