by Dave Albarado
PBA players for Gilas? Improbable!
With the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) long delayed 2021 season underway, it is highly improbable for PBA players to play for Gilas in the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup.
Coach Tab Baldwin has been vocal about the need to have players practise with Gilas for at least 30 days before the tournament. The idea is to ensure the players coming from the PBA know Tab Baldwin’s system, which is a complicated one.
Reports say that PBA players RR Pogoy of Talk N Text, Matthew Wright of Phoenix LPG and CJ Perez of San Miguel Beer men are being eyed as possible additions to the team, which lacks the outside firepower and the ability to defend the wings. The game against Dominican Republic exposed our weakness to defend athletic guards on kick out situations coming from a dribble drive offense.
Wright is a nearly 40 percent career three-point shooter with the height and decent defensive skills to match up against the opposing shooting guards.
While undersized at 6-foot-2 Pogoy is a proven shooter and a lockdown defender, he is going to bring a lot of things to the table.
On the other hand, Perez is a solid guy who can play at the point guard position and dominate smaller guards with his athleticism.
However, getting these guys to play for is next too impossible given the PBA is now on its 46th season and the teams may not be willing to lend their players to the national team.
Of course, we are getting ahead of the situation as there is a possibility that Gilas might skip the tournament in Jakarta given the fact that Covid active cases in Indonesia are soaring high. In just one day Indonesia recorded 47,000 cases.
This is a cause for concern as Gilas members cannot gamble their health.
As of this writing the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has yet to receive word from Fiba whether or not the tournament will push through.