Coach Rajko Toroman’s Smart Gilas RP team is truly a work in progress, but, backed by the unquestionable acumen of former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner Noli Eala and the millions of telecommunication tycoon Manny Pangilinan, it would be very hard to bet against the glowing possibility of this young team achieving its ultimate goal: to rub shoulders with the world’s best in 2012 London Olympics.
Powered by the funds being poured in by Pangilinan’s telecom company, Smart, and driven by the Serbian who recently led little-known basketball power Iran all the way to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the developmental team is gradually beginning to take its shape. A fast and athletic young team, equipped with loads of potential on all positions, honed by basketball methods previously unknown to local players, the Smart Gilas team is truly shaping up to be a force of the future.
Bannered by stalwart college players like Ateneo’s Chris Tiu, La Salle’s JayVee Casio and Far Eastern University pair Mark Barroca and JR Cawaling, the Gilas team was recently reinforced by a mammoth 6’10 specimen in American-born CJ Giles, Toroman’s pick for the FIBA-approved nationalization scheme that Eala and Pangilinan chose to use. In addition, 6-9, 225-pound former Western Kentucky University center Japeth Aguilar is also on his way to join his new national teammates as Toroman looks to add some more much needed ceiling to the team, as he completes the outstanding nucleus that he has already formed in a matter of months on the job.
Local reports are also pointing to Toroman’s plans to add some American-bred athleticism into his young team, as the Gilas team aims to add a couple of Filipino-Americans, 6-3 Chris Lutz of Marshall University and 6-4 Sean Anthony of McGill University, to their numbers, barring any passport complications. If the pair turns out to be as good as they have been reported, Toroman’s RP team may well be on its way to dominating Asia.
Why am I overly confident about the Smart Gilas team? Well, just imagine a bunch of ultra-talented Filipino ballers playing an efficient, European style system. To me, that is mouthwatering! As far as I remember, the past decade has been dominated by heartbreaks and close calls for Philippine basketball when it came to international competitions. Putting it simply, it was never a doubt that the past Philippine teams had more than enough talent to win, at least, the Asian Games, but, an efficient and organized style of play has been lacking. In the past, Filipino players exerted too much effort playing American-style 1-on-1 basketball against Chinese and Korean giants who often blew them away with deadly outside shooting. In my opinion, when it comes to raw basketball talent, Filipino players were one of the best in the world, at least, the best in the Asian region. However, talent alone was never going to be enough, as more efficient and more disciplined teams often found ways to neutralize the Filipinos’ superior skill set. It was more than obvious that the Filipinos needed to learn a new and better way to make use of their talent.
Now, that time has come, and although the Smart Gilas team may still be years in the making, prospects for the future truly looks radiant. Pangilinan’s unwavering support for the team means that the young boys are already fetching fat paychecks, even without signing up for a professional ballclub in the PBA. Such a fact only means that the players could give their all for the national team, and not play cautiously to be able to protect their professional career. This means that our boys would never be afraid to bang bodies even with the biggest foreign giants, for the national team is their one and only concern.
Truly, after all the dark events of recent times, the only left way for Philippine basketball is back up, and with Rajko Toroman at the helm, that road may well lead us to London.
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