GILAS-ables: Raymond Almazan

“GILAS-ables” is a series of articles that will discuss different players who could make a case for joining the Gilas pool. This series will include Fil-foreign players plying their trade in other leagues, the US NCAA, and the PBA.

In the second article in this series, we take a look at a young player with a huge upside: Rain Or Shine’s fast rising sophomore forward, Raymond Almazan.

PLAYER INFO

Name: Almazan, Raymond

Team: Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters

Height: 6’ 9”

Weight: 194 lbs

College: Colegio de San Juan de Letran

STATS

Career:

6.8 points per game, 5.67 rebounds per game, .61 assists per game, .88 blocks per game

2015 Season:

9 points per game, 7.45 rebounds per game, 1 assist per game, 1 block per game

WHY HE SHOULD BE IN THE GILAS POOL

If you go by the numbers, there’s no way Raymond Almazan should be given a slot at the Gilas pool. There are just too many people who have better numbers, have more experience, have better reputations.

Why The Tams Are Kings

Photo courtesy of abscbn.com

It took the FEU Tamaraws ten years but they are finally the kings of UAAP men’s basketball once again.

Despite being one of the favorites this year, the FEU Tamaraws’ seemed to have spent the season flying under the radar, as the ADMU Blue Eagles, the DLSU Green Archers or the NU Bulldogs hogged the limelight.

Their ascension to the top was so nondescript that none of their players made it to the Mythical Five, with ADMU, NU, DLSU represented by one payer and losing finalist UST represented by two.

And yet, after three hard-fought games, they are the ones wearing the UAAP’s basketball crown. Here are three factors that helped make it happen.

GOOD COACHING

Coach Nash Racela put together a simple but masterful game plan to stop the UST Tigers. And it came down to one thing: control the game tempo.