From GILASable to Gilas Able: Raymond Almazan

It's good to be right.

Last December 4, this blogger named Rain Or Shine's Raymond Almazan as one of the GILASables (players who should be accorded an invite to the Gilas 4.0 pool). (Read the article here)

Last Monday, Almazan’s game long brilliance was the key to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters cruising past the suddenly toothless Talk ‘N Test Tropang Texters to make their way into the seminfinal round. Almazan shone with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots while making life extremely difficult for the Texters’ duo of promising big men Moala Tautuua and Troy Rosario (both, incidentally, are part of the Gilas pool)

After the game, this happened.

WHAT THIS MEANS

Bye-bye, Ian Sangalang. He was one of the most surprising picks made by Tab Baldwin, seeing as he was coming off an injury-filled year and had not played in a long while. But his height (always a big factor when talking about international basketball), his varied skill set and his potential was enough for Baldwin to take a gamble.

GILAS-ables: Scottie Thompson

“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 in different leagues, including the US NCAA and the PBA.

In the third article in this series, we’ll talk about a player whose inclusion was made more plausible by the entry of another, much more hyped young player into the Gilas pool.

PLAYER INFO

Name: Thompson, Earl Scottie

Team: Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings

Height: 6’ 1”

Weight: 180 lbs

College: University of Perpetual Help

PBA STATS

Career:

4.9 points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game, 2.7 assists per game, .1.4 turnovers per game

OTHER NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

SEA GAMES GOLD MEDALIST (2015)

NCAA MVP (2014)

WHY HE SHOULD BE IN THE GILAS POOL

Again, if you look at the numbers, there is no way that Scottie Thompson would be considered for a spot in the Gilas. After all, 5 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds are barely even PBA starter numbers, much less numbers of one of the 12 best Filipino players available.

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.

GILAS-ables: Sean Anthony

“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.

We kick off this series with a surprise entry: NLEX’s blossoming forward Sean Anthony.

PLAYER INFO

Name: Anthony, Sean Michael

Team: NLEX Road Warriors

Height: 6’ 6”

Weight: 200 lbs

College: McGill University (Montreal, Canada)

STATS

Career:

8.75 points per game, 5.77 rebounds per game, 1.95 assists per game

2015 Season:

20.5 points per game, 12.8 rebounds per game, 4.7 assists per game

WHY HE SHOULD BE IN THE GILAS POOL

If you have been watching the current PBA season, then you know why Sean Anthony should be included in the Gilas pool. He has more than doubled his career averages in points, rebounds, and assists and have shown a ferocity in his game that the PBA has not seen from him before.

Why Stephen Curry Won the MVP Award In a Landslide.

We’re one month into the new season and some people are still talking about whether Stephen Curry or James Harden was last year’s most valuable player. Add the fact that James Harden won the MVP award from the NBPA Awards and you’ve got a controversy that just refuses to die.

Now, whenever people talk about MVP candidates, the conversation inevitably turns into personal production. And why shouldn’t it? After all, the Most Valuable Player Award of the NBA is defined as the award that goes to the “best performing player of the regular season”. So, simplistically, the player with the best stat line should win the Most Valuable Player Award. 

The problem starts when you have to evaluate what seem to be equally sterling regular season performances against each other. Take, for example, the top three vote getters for the NBA MVP in 2014-2015.

PLAYER	PPG	APG	RPG	STEALS	THREES	3P%	FT%
Stephen Curry	23.8	7.7	4.3	2.4	286 (NBA record)	44.3	91.4
James Harden	27.4	7	5.7	1.9	208	37.5	87
Lebron James	25.3	7.4	6	1.6	120	35.4	71

Now, while eventual MVP winner Stephen Curry has a distinct edge in three pointers made, three-point percentage and free throw percentage and a slight edge in assists per game and steals per game, are those really enough to say that he was the clear cut most valuable player among the three?