Three Wins and a Loss

The Jones Cup record of this version of Gilas now stands at 3-1. After a tough opening day loss to Canada, the Gilas boys have notched wins over Chinese-Taipei’s A-Team and B-Team as well as Japan’s Under-24 Team.

None of their victories came easy, which have led to a lot of negative reactions online. So now we ask the question, should we be worried?

My answer is no, primarily because of these three things:

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

The likes of Kiefer Ravena and Jio Jalalon would never make it to court, we had the likes of Jason Castro and Terence Romeo on the team. Neither would Christian Standhardinger, the revelation of the tournament, had Blatche, Fajardo, or Aguilar been on the team.

Giving these players a chance to play significant minutes allows us to build a strong reserves system, which hopefully minimizes the drop off in skill, talent, and chemistry when our current Gilas stars are unavailable to play.

It also allows us to create some kind of continuity between Gilas teams. Remember when Alapag was the senior guy and Castro the understudy? That worked out pretty well. And then there was Castro as the maestro and Romeo as his student. Soon, Romeo will be our main guy, with Jalalon or Ravena primed to take over. This tournament will go a long way to getting them ready for that day.

CULTURE DEVELOPMENT

None of Gilas’ victories came easy and that is exactly what we needed. Why? Because no one learns anything when things come easy. But being tested? That is where lessons are earned. Pushed to the brink by a pair of hotshooting Japan wingmen, the Gilas boys clamped down on the perimeter and dared Japan to take the ball inside. Gilas won that battle. Against a fast and quick Taiwan B-Team, the Gilas boys went inside, to bully them into submission (and fouls). Again, Gilas was successful.

All those games when Gilas found themselves down, they rose to the challenge by finding their puso and different ways to win.  That will be crucial, because we will always be an undersized Asian team trying to earn the respect of the global big boys of basketball. That means we need to rely on speed, shooting and tenacity, given that we will never have the advantage in height or heft.

Instilling that never-say-die spirit in ALL members of Gilas gives us a chance to upset a couple of global basketball powers who may underestimate us by thinking that our hearts is just as big as our bodies.

DISCOVERING RISING STARS

Christian Standhardinger. Jio Jalalon. Carl Bryan Cruz. These are just some of the players that are slowly becoming household names. Their inspired level of play in the Jones Cup is translating not only into victories but also into credibility.

Basically, they’ve proven that they can play with the big boys of Asia. We will no longer have wide-eyed players who can be cowed into submission simply by walking onto the same court as the likes of Hamed Haddadi, Yi Jianlian, or Cho Sung Min.

With Standhardinger, Jalalon, and Cruz as well as Ravena, Parks, Wright, Pogoy, and Belo realize they can give players from Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Korea problems on-court, their confidence levels get a major boost and glass ceilings can be shattered, allowing them to believe they can accomplish even more.

ALL IN ALL  

There is still a chance for Gilas to win the Jones Cup. If Korea and Lithuania get waylaid, we are still definitely in the mix. But regardless of whether we win the crown or not, I think we can safely say that this Gilas campaign has accomplished its mission.