Powerade Team Pilipinas finished its Fiba Asia Championship campaign with a 4-5 record and good for eighth place in the 16-team field; an improvement from the country’s ninth-place finish in 2007 but nevertheless short of the ultimate goal of a top-three placing and automatic entry into the World Championships next year.
However, as easy it is to label Team Pilipinas’ bid a "failure," this space would rather view it in the contrary. It may be akin to looking at things as half-full than half-empty but still with the many lessons that could be learned from the nationals’ Fiba-Asia campaign, and in turn be used for future forays internationally, it is safe to say that it is not entirely futile.
Primordial of the things to derive from RP’s recent Fiba-Asia stop is that Philippine basketball is still alive in the continental, if not global, scheme of things.
As opposed to the pervading view that RP hoops is no longer relevant in Asia, our boys proved otherwise. We are the kings of Southeast Asian basketball and pitted against the top dogs in the region we held our own. We beat teams like Japan, Chinese Taipei and Kuwait, squads that were deemed to have improved immensely vis-a-vis the Philippines, while at the same time making a good account of ourselves even in defeat versus powerhouses Iran, Jordan and Korea. Save for the game against Qatar where we played listlessly, the Philippines by and large showed to the world that it is still a force to deal with in Asian basketball.
Another thing is the importance of preparation. Of all the teams that competed in the Fiba-Asia, Team Pilipinas could well have been the most "ill-prepared," with gestation abbreviated for various reasons. Despite this, we were still in the thick of competition, running roughshod with the best of them. Had we had more time to fine-tune our stuff, e.g. outside shooting, defense and free-throw shooting, among others, who knows where we could have ended up.
Asian, or for that matter international, competition is all about having the young guys around. While it was a gem seeing guys like Asi Taulava and Mick Pennisi who are in their mid-30s strutting their wares and mattering, it was hard to ignore the emphasis on youth in the entire field. If we are to make far greater wave in the future, we need to keep in step with the competition as far as infusing young legs in our team. Doing so, we afford ourselves the ability to be at par with our rivals not only during game-time situations but more importantly as far as sustaining team growth and development.
Then there is the need to explore alternative ways to improve our competitiveness. Foremost is the naturalization of players to help our cause. We just have to look at teams like Jordan and Lebanon who have naturalized players to much fruitful results. With lack of height a big bane for us, we can certainly use a couple of seven-footers who can add ceiling to our team. The prospects for such look promising especially when played in tandem with our athletic forwards and guards. We already tried the option in the ’80s and turned out to be a success. Why not use it now?
While an eighth-place finish was far from the hoped-for placing for the Philippines, still it was not that bad as it appeared to be. The nationals represented well and in the process earned the respect of rivals and observers alike, and their play churning out valuable lessons that future RP teams can definitely learn from. Mabuhay Team Pilipinas! Thanks for making as proud.
BusinessWorld
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