GUANGZHOU, China – The Philippine-Smart Gilas basketball team left here for Manila Saturday morning with only a sixth-place finish in the 16th Asian Games to offer to a basketball-crazy nation.
That’s why the first step for the coaching staff, headed by Rajko Toroman, is to evaluate how the PHL 5 performed and what are the things needed to be done to make the team more formidable in the 2011 FIBA Asia qualifier for the London Olympics.
“We’ll evaluate everything that happened here," said Toroman after his team suffered a 71-81 loss to Qatar in the battle for fifth place.
“But with Marcus (Douthit) playing for us, I think we can be a competitive team in the FIBA Asia. Because everything starts with Marcus," he added.
Douthit is the 6-foot-10 American player who was naturalized to play for the national basketball team. His papers were not processed in time for the Guangzhou Asiad.
The Philippines’ sixth-place finish was its worst since the 1966 Asiad in Thailand. Toroman cited several reasons why the PHL 5 didn’t make it to the medal round.
One of them was the lack of time to jell with the PBA players that were loaned by the pro league to help Gilas’ Asian Games campaign.
“With Asi (Taulava) and Kelly (Williams), we were stronger defensively, but offensively, we struggled because they were not with us for a long time," he said. “Our offense was not like this before."
Toroman said that before, the team could run five sets of offensive patterns with Douthit, but with Taulava and Williams manning the inside, he was forced to use only three due to lack of time.
“And the biggest adjustment will be Marcus. He will change everything. Offensively, he’s a good player and defensively, he’s a good blocker and rebounder. All our outside shooters will work because he can work inside," said Toroman.
The Serbian coach also cited injuries to JV Casio, Marcio Lassiter and Japeth Aguilar, who was sent home due to a slight posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tear in his right knee. Even pro Sol Mercado was slowed down by a foot injury.
Casio and Lassiter, however, continued to play for the flag.
But Toroman didn’t want to use them as excuses. Despite the country’s disappointing performance, he’s confident that the Philippines can do better in the London Olympics qualifier next year.
“I’m optimistic we can be competitive," said Toroman. – KY/JVP, GMANews.TV
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