It’s the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk
about: how would Gilas 3.0 fare against Gilas 2.0, the acknowledged best
Philippine basketball team in recent times?
Just to be clear, we’ll be using the Gilas 2.0 lineup used
at the FIBA World Cup, which means 2014 Andray Blatche will be in play, as well
as Paul Lee but not Larry Fonacier nor Marcus Douthit.
We now move on to the last part of this series, the guards.
GILAS 2.0
|
GILAS 3.0
|
Jayson Castro
|
Jayson Castro
|
LA Tenorio
|
Terence Romeo
|
Jimmy Alapag
|
Dondon Hontiveros
|
Paul Lee
|
Once again, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that Castro
of Gilas 3.0 will be equal to Castor of 2.0. The discussion will now focus on
Tenorio, Alapag and Lee vs Romeo and Hontiveros.
ON OFFENSE
On offense, the Gilas 2.0 backcourt is just so much better
than Gilas 3.0, not just on the scoring front but, more importantly, on the
playmaking front.
Tenorio and Alapag may be the best pure point guards in
recent Philippine basketball history and their leadership skills as well as
their ability to control the game is practically legendary. Alapag became a
worldwide sensation for his timely outside snipings during the FIBA World Cup
and Tenorio masterfully quarterbacked the Gilas 2.0 team, despite giving
several inches to his counterpart. Paul Lee, on the other hand, is a rugged
do-it-all guard who can score inside and outside, and provides muscle and
tenacity to a small backcourt. But where this trio really excels is their
ability to control the game. Alapag does it with his shooting and passing,
Tenorio with his ability to probe the defense's weak spots and exploit them,
and Lee with his powerful drives to the basket and ability to find the spot up
shooter.
