The Jordan Clarkson Situation: Good Or Bad?

By now, the news has already sunk in. Jordan Clarkson WILL NOT be suiting up for Gilas Pilipinas come the Manila Olympic Qualifiers.

And while the knee jerk reaction by the public was one of dismay, his absence may actually be a blessing in disguise for the future of Gilas Pilipinas basketball.

Here are four reasons why Jordan Clarkson’s absence may actually prove to be a good thing:

THERE’S STILL A CHANCE HE CAN PLAY AS A LOCAL.

With Clarkson’s citizenship status still unclear, the FIBA committee was taking no chances that they’d see a repeat of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championships, when five members of the Qatari national team were disqualified for having been granted citizenships just to play.

The NBA's Secret Contender

They currently sit as the third seed in the NBA’s much-improved Eastern Conference, with a 34-25 record (which would put them at the West’s 5^th spot).

They also boast of quality wins over top tier teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Houston Rockets, the Chicago Bulls, the LA Clippers, the Miami Heat, the Indiana Pacers, and the Atlanta Hawks.

So why isn’t anyone talking about the Boston Celtics?

Here are the four reasons why people aren’t talking about the Celtics but also, why they should be talking about the Celtics

TEAM “NO-SUPERSTARS”

Take a quick look at the Boston Celtics lineup and tell me if you see a bonafide super star. Or even a clear cut top 20 player. The closest you’d get is All-Star Isaiah Thomas (21.6 ppg, 6.8 apg, 2.9 rpg), who started out the season ranked #65 by ESPN. Even then, sexier names like Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, and Jeff Teague (all non-all stars this year) are more likely to be considered “better” players than Thomas.

How Bad Was The Gilas OQT Draw?

Bad enough.

Our group in the Manila Olympic Qualifying Tournament include what is probably the strongest team in the entire qualifiers (France) and in the other group, arguably the second or third strongest team (Canada). New Zealand, Senegal, and Turkey complete our group and of the three, it’s only Senegal that I’d say we’d be the favored to win.

The short tournament format makes every game a must-win: lose one and you’ve got one foot out the door. So starting the tournament off by going up against the prohibitive favorites, France, certainly puts us in a bad situation almost immediately. If the likes of Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum, Rudy Gobert, Joakim Noah, Boris Diaw, Evan Fournier, Ian Mahinmi and Nando de Colo show the deadly form they showed at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, they should be heads and shoulders above everyone else.

The Best Ever: Carlos “The Big Difference” Loyzaga

Today, the best-ever Filipino basketball player passed on to the great beyond.

He was known for many things, including being “The Big Difference”, a 6’3” center whose tremendous basketball IQ, gargantuan skill set and fierce competitiveness set him apart from other Filipino basketball luminaries of his time.

He was also known for being a champion many times over, including the MICAA juniors crown, three NCAA championships, several MICAA seniors crowns, a host of National Open crowns, and multiple FIBA Asia Championships and Asian Games titles.

POT LUCK: Getting Lucky In The Olympic Qualifying Draw

By this time, everyone knows who the 18 countries vying for three Olympic slots are. (in case you don't know, they are France, Serbia, Italy, Canada, Czech Republic, Greece, Angola, Iran, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Croatia,  Tunisia, Turkey, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Senegal and the Philippines)

But this time, everyone would also know that we will be hosting one of the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, a distinct honor and a tremendous advantage accorded to our basketball team.

With the draw looming in a few hours, let’s take a quick look at which teams would give us the better chance of winning the Manila leg.

Caveat: the Gilas lineup I’m using for this comparison includes not just a fit Andray Blatche, but also a fully healed Junemar Fajardo plus Jordan Clarkson.

But first, a look at the draw pots:

And now, analyzing the probable match ups:

POT 1 – Serbia is a host so we’ll never face them. It comes down to France vs Greece and while I would dearly love to see how Jayson Castro matches up against  Tony Parker, how Terence Romeo will react to seeing Rudy Gobert in his path, how Ranidel de Ocampo will fare against Nicolas Batum, playing Greece is a much better option for us. Greece is a good team but they haven’t been as successful in the world stage as they were a decade ago. I’d say we lose big against the French but win by about 5-8 points versus Greece.

GILAS-ables: Vic Manuel

“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 Filipinos and Fil-foreign players plying their trade not just in the PBA but also in other leagues, including the US NCAA, the UAAP, and the PBA D-League.

In the fourth article in this series, we’ll talk about a player who’s represented the Philippines in international 3x3 competitions already but has not generated even a single peep with regards to his possible inclusion in the Gilas pool.

PLAYER INFO

Name: Manuel, Vic

Team: Alaska Aces

Height: 6’ 4”

Weight: 201 lbs

College: PSBA

PBA STATS

Current Season:

16.4 points per game, 8 rebounds per game, 1.2 assists per game, 1.4 steals per game

Career:

8.8 points per game, 4.7 rebounds per game, 1 assist per game, .5 steals per game

WHY HE SHOULD BE IN THE GILAS POOL

Much like Sean Anthony, a Gilas-able discussed earlier, Vic Manuel was a so-so player until this year, when something suddenly clicked inside the head of the 4-year veteran.