Gilas 3.0: Smaller, Faster, Nastier.

We are one week away from the FIBA-ASIA Championships and by now, the lineup for Gilas Pilipinas has been all but finalized.

Which means it’s time for us to analyze exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of Gilas 3.0 are.

STRENGTHS

SPEED – They say “speed kills”. In the case of Gilas 3.0’s upcoming opponents, this may actually prove to be true. The addition of players like Terence Romeo, Calvin Abueva and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser to cat-quick players like Jayson Castro and Gabe Norwood has given Gilas 3.0 end-to-end speed that promises to give other Asian teams a lot of trouble. So far, only Japan and maybe South Korea seem to have the quickness needed to keep up with Gilas.

 ATHLETICISM – Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Terence Romeo, Jayson Castro, Calvin Abueva, Gabe Norwood and Marc Pingris are all above average athletes. Against the likes of Iran and China, Gilas would really have to rely on this athleticism to offset the other team’s considerable height advantage. It would be interesting to see MGR/Norwood take on Iran’s Kamrani (a very strong and athletic point guard) in an effort to disrupt the Iranian system.

TOUGHNESSS - Old hands Asi Taulava and Sonny Thoss together with new recruits Calvin Abueva and, weirdly enough, JC Intal showed in the Jones Cup that they can be as physical as they need to be. The game versus Russia was a great case study, as well as the game versus Iran (even though Gilas lost that one). Taulava and Thoss never backed down against taller, heftier opponents, who needed to physically manhandle the duo to get their points. Even then, only Haddadi was truly too much for the pair. Abueva was a revelation as well, as his peskiness (often to the dismay of his PBA opponents) translated well in the international game.

WEAKNESSES

HEIGHT – This goes without saying. Even with the still rotund Andray Blatche on the roster, we will be among the smallest teams in the tournament. Ranidel de Ocampo is a great stretch four in the PBA but in FIBA Asia tourneys, he’ll be guarded by quick small forwards who’ll still be more than a couple of inches taller. And that’s going to be case in every position, except for when Blatche is in the lineup.

SHOOTING – Gilas 3.0 has one certified shooter: Dondon Hontiveros. The others are all scorers who can hit jumpers on occasion. Gabe Norwood has been particularly bad lately, Ganuelas-Rosser has barely taken any, Abueva and Intal are unreliable and RDO still has not recovered his touch after missing time with an injury.

COHESION – Gilas 3.0 is racing against the clock, in terms of preparation time. We can’t ignore the fact that the team has improved immensely in the last 3 weeks or so but we also can’t ignore the fact that every other national team has had more preparation time than Gilas had. The chemistry is much better now than during the Estonia tournament you have to wonder how much better they would be if they had 3 months to prepare instead of just basically a month and a half.

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