BY now, officials of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas felt a gap in some of its program, particularly in the men’s division where a pool of players are needed to compete in major international tournaments like the Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games.
We’ve seen improvements both in the 3x3 and women’s basketball programs and even in the girls youth basketball, but somehow, SBP felt the need to do a much better job in the men’s division.
Given the ton of games being played by players selected in the Gilas Pilipinas pool, both in the Philippine Basketball Association and professional leagues in the region like the Japan B. League and Korean Basketball League, our national men’s basketball team needs to have a wider pool of players who will be available to play whenever they are called to represent the country.
There was a time when players representing the country are composed of the finest amateur players but the landscape of basketball has been changed in 1989 when then FIBA secretary general Boris Stankovic introduced the open policy that allowed professional players to see action in all events sanctioned by the world basketball federation, hence the creation of our first all-professional Philippine team in 1990 coached by Robert Jaworski and the fabled Dream Team that restored the United States’ dominance in the Olympic basketball circuit in 1992.
But how about the regional competitions such as the Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Games?
When we started sending professional players in the Asian Games in 1990 which resulted to the Philippines winning a silver medal, it was made clear by our country’s basketball stakeholders that PBA players will represent our teams in the Asiad level.
Making it to the Olympic basketball scene was a far-fetched reality back then and it remains to be a dream – for now – and that’s the reason why we set our sights in the Asian Games.
Alan Caidic, who played in four Asian Games squads, saw the importance of representing the Philippines in the quadrennial meet and playing there gave him some measure of pride.
“That’s the Olympics of Asia,” Caidic told The Manila Times. “From the time when we were amateur players all the way to the time we became PBA players, representing our national team in the Asian Games had always been a priority.”
Our aspirations of making our way back to the OIympics became more feverish when the group of Manuel V. Pangilinan took over the management of our country’s basketball federation.
That’s why the SBP, which succeeded the old governing basketball body – the Basketball Association of the Philippines – started to form a dedicated national team that should be put up to train together for a long period of time and represent the country in major international competitions, which include the FIBA Asia Championship, then a qualifying event for both the Olympics and the World Basketball Championship that later on became FIBA World Cup.
The SBP felt there should be a team exclusive in playing for the national squad and they were handsomely compensated.
The program was patterned after the old Northern Consolidated Cement of the late Ambassador and former San Miguel Corporation chairman Danding Cojuangco, whose team became the last Philippine squad to win the gold medal in the Asian Basketball Confederation, now known as FIBA Asia Cup, in a tournament played from late 1985 to early 1986.
Like the NCC, which produced naturalized players like Chip Engelland, Jeff Moore and Dennis Still, Gilas Pilipinas also had its share of naturalized players from Marcus Douthit, Andray Blatche and Jordan Clarkson, who helped reinforce the Gilas Pilipinas team in the last three FIBA World Cups. And then there's Justin Brownlee, who is currently injured, and just recently, Bennie Boatwright.
But the current national team is not solely dedicated to playing for our Philippine quintet and needing permission from their respective mother teams and leagues before being allowed to play.
Sooner or later, the players from that all-amateur Gilas Pilipinas team entered the pros.
A few years ago, the SBP came up with a Gilas Cadet program which put amateur players on standby and ready to serve the national team. They were created to ease the load on PBA and other professional players playing overseas.
Maybe it’s time for the SBP to revisit the program.
