MANILA, 10 May — Does today’s Philippine team, which is powered by Fil-foreign players, stand the best chance of beating the mighty Chinese squad for the coveted gold in the coming Asian Games?
No, wait. Let’s rephrase it.
Do the Chinese stand a good chance of beating the Philippine team?
Those are the kinds of intriguing questions that dance in the minds of the basketball-crazy Filipinos like water drops in a hot frying pan.
The predominant feeling right now in the Philippine basketball republic is that the country, indeed, has the best chance of finally bringing home the Asian Games basketball gold the Filipinos last won way back in 1962 in Jakarta.
Many onlookers believe the Philippines — again, thanks to the Philippine Basketball Association’s veritable source of Fil-foreign players, particularly Fil-Ams — can give the Chinese a run for their money.
This sentiment comes from practically all walks of life — from the sports circle, particularly the country’s top sports officials, basketball players, experts, as well as ordinary sports buffs.
So the biggest question mark that bothers the mind is whether the Filipino cagers can really beat the Chinese, the most dominant side in Asian competitions. The Chinese have won the Asian gold since 1986.
You see, the arrival — although some purists prefer to use the word "invasion" — of Fil-foreign players in the PBA has revived the country’s hopes of reclaiming regional supremacy in a sport the Filipinos regard as a virtual religion.
The influx of foreign-bred players has given many observers new reason to believe that the national quintet can dethrone the Chinese on Sept. 28-Oct. 14 in Busan, South Korea.
Rightly so, the staging of the quadrennial meet could very well be the biggest acid test for the PBA, which for the past three editions of the games has represented the country and carried the burden of trying to live up to the Filipinos’ expectations of winning the gold.
The PBA has sent the best players, and coaching staff, it could best offer to fulfill its golden mission — to no avail, though. And again, the PBA is pulling no stops in preparing and sending the best possible team to Busan.
So four years since the last Asian Games in 1998, the Philippines will embark on a mission yet again to virtually scale China’s Great Wall with the help of much taller, heftier, quicker and talented Fil-foreign players.
Names like Paul Asi Taulava, Eric Menk and Danny Seigle are among those Fil-foreigners who are forming the nucleus of the Philippine team which settled for a bronze medal in the last Asian Games in 1998 when it was known as the Centennial Team — a year before the feared troika joined the pro league.
Jong Uichico, a four-time PBA champion mentor, has already named the 15 players culled from the country’s premier league.
Choosing from a talent-rich pool of 27 aspirants, Uichico plucked out eight Fil-foreign players and seven home-grown talents. Four veterans of the Centennial Team that won the bronze in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games are joining the Fil-foreigners in the lineup.
Others in the list are Kenneth Duremdes, Andy Seigle, Dennis Espino and Olsen Racela, all members of the Centennial Team. Also named to the magic 15 were Chris Jackson, Jeffrey Cariaso, Rudy Hatfield, Danny Ildefonso, Dondon Hontiveros, Mick Pennisi, Boyet Fernandez and the controversial Noy Castillo.
"This is the best team that can give the Philippines the best shot to win the Asian Games gold," said Uichico.
This marks the fourth time since the open basketball was introduced in 1990 that the PBA will be sending a selection to the Asian Games. The immediate goal is to improve on a bronze medal finish in 1998. The biggest task, however, is obviously to reclaim the throne from defending champion China.
Still, the multi-titled Uichico, who took over the coaching job after American Ron Jacobs suffered a stroke last year, remains non-committal on the chances of his wards, but he vowed they will go out fighting.
"I’m not promising that this team will win the gold medal. But I can guarantee everybody that these players will go out fighting up to the last second no matter what," said Uichico who will be seeking to end four decades of title drought for the Philippines in the games. Uichico described his team as relatively small but thought "this can match up with any team in the Asiad and can be the team that can give the country the best shot possible at winning the Asiad gold medal."
"If we go big, it’s useless against the Chinese because they are more mobile. We’ll still be mismatched. It will also be a disadvantage against small and quick teams like Korea," he pointed out. "Our strength, I believe, is our quickness. If you will notice, the list is made up of eight small ones and seven big ones. The small ones are dominant. The idea is how to best match up with the opposition. So our best shot is to form a balanced team that is neither small nor big but has a lot of offensive threats. That’s why we opted to go small."
Controversy also marked Uichico’s announcement after the inclusion of Castillo in the national team.
Uichico readily defended his bold decision, saying the 6-foot-2 Castillo, a streak-shooter, could ably fill his need for a point guard who could easily make the switch to off-guard.
"I believe we need him so I made a decision, whether popular or not," he said, adding Castillo was his "personal choice."
Uichico said he was willing to bite the bullet in picking Castillo, the streak-shooting guard who was not able to join the tryout because he had surgery on his toe and a prolonged rehabilitation in the US.
Outside shooting is vital in playing against the zone and Castillo isn’t only a deadly perimeter rifleman but also a versatile backcourt operator who can play both guard spots.
The 6-foot-9 Taulava said he is willing to submit himself to a personal conditioning program as he intends to put on more weight by at least 10 pounds in anticipation of a "rough and tumble" matchup with bigger and heftier opponents in Busan.
"It would be an honor to represent this country to show where my heart is," said the Talk ‘N Text slotman Taulava, who was hounded by citizenship problems last year that almost cost his career in the PBA.
The 6-foot-6 Menk, Ginebra’s new franchise player, expressed his preparedness to play for flag and country, saying: "There are a lot of sacrifices needed to join the national team, and I’m willing to take those risks."
And so again, can the Chinese beat the best team the PBA could offer, huh?
Or better yet, how would the PBA team fare against the Chinese? Will the Philippine team be finally equipped to provide a serious threat to China?
For one, Ron Jacobs, who was originally appointed by the PBA as coach of the Busan-bound national team but was replaced by Uichico after suffering a mild stroke last year, had expressed guarded optimism, saying that Filipino fans must temper their expectations with the reality that it’s a formidable task to beat China — and must not look down on South Korea and Lebanon as unworthy contenders, either.
Although he boasts of a remarkable track record against both China and South Korea during his initial stint with the national team in the early 80s, the 58-year-old American said he expects the nationals to have their hands full against the two perennial Asian powers — China and South Korea — and the emerging power — Lebanon — in Busan.
"China is a gigantic problem because they’re improving each day. Their fundamentals get better and all that. We may have a pool of 10 million (players), but China has around 100 million, so you can take it from there. It’s not too far in the day when China becomes a power. And I’m not talking Asia but the world," said Jacobs, as cited how the Chinese have improved vastly since the last time he coached the 1986 National team that beat China in the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship (ABC), " ... and I don’t think China would want to lose in Korea."
And the South Koreans?
"I have a lot of respect for that team. And I don’t think Korea would want to lose in Korea," he had said.
Since the PBA was tasked by the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) with forming the national team in the last three editions of the Asian Games, it has won one silver and one bronze medal.
A team coached by superstar Robert Jaworski lost to the powerhouse Chinese in the finals of the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, while the squad handled by Norman Black failed to win a medal after finishing fourth in the 1994 games in Hiroshima.
The Centennial Team coached by Tim Cone, after months of rigid training at home and abroad, won the bronze medal in Bangkok in 1998.
The last time the Philippines won the basketball gold in the Asian Games was in 1962 in Jakarta.
The country also won the cage championships in the inaugural games in 1951 in New Delhi: in 1956 in Manila; and in 1958 in Tokyo. For the record, the Philippines last beat China in the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championships in Kuala Lumpur in January 1986 with a team coached by Ron Jacobs which included naturalized players Dennis Still, Chip England and Jeff Moore. It turned out, it was the last major basketball crown by the country in the international arena.
This will be an old, tired script when the Philippine team goes up against the Chinese.
The Philippines will be facing China’s basketball version of its Great Wall — the 7-foot-6 Yao Ming, 7-foot-1 Wang Zhizhi and 6-11 Menk Batere.
The Chinese, 10th placers in the Sydney Olympics, will be too big, too sleek to handle for the Philippine team. Averaging over 6-foot-7 in height, the Chinese will tower over the Filipinos and dwarf Taulava and Co. at the shaded lane. Yao has the ability to score at ease with his spin moves and soft shooting touch, especially when he is not facing the imminent double and triple teams that the Philippines is expected to employ in a bid to foil the Chinese lane attack.
Yao has matured into becoming not only tall and strong, but he is armed with some of the best shot-blocking timing in the world.
Wang, 23, is obviously Asia’s most popular being the first Asian so far to make it to the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Dallas Mavericks — and most talented basketball player. He has both inside and outside skills and he can spread out a defense by pulling his man to the top of the key and burn him with jumpshots.
But more importantly to China’s cause, Wang has post game, lots of it, from baseline spin moves to a turnaround jumpshot to a little hook. China will face plenty of gimmick zone defenses, and Wang will punish these with his effective medium range game.
Hard-as-rock Batere, alternating with Yao at center as Wang slides to forward. Batere is the shortest, oldest at 24, and least mobile of the three giants affectionately called China’s Moving Great Wall, but he is a true mountain of a man.
But what about the South Koreans? Surely, they will also stand in the way of the Filipinos’ bid for another crack at the Asian Games title. How would the Filipinos fare against the cat-quick, skillful and technically-prepared Koreans?
The legendary South Korean sharpshooter, Shin Dong Pa, has "belittled" the chances of the yet-to-be-formed Philippine team.
"Good for fifth place, your professional team,’’ Shin reportedly told Filipino sportswriters a few months ago through an interpreter during a brief visit to the country where he accompanied a Korean squad that took part in the National Open Championship at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Then he was asked: "Even with Fil-Am players included?"
"Especially with Fil-Am players," Shin said, "because your professional players don’t know how to play zone. The Korean team needs only to practice three months instead of eight to beat the Philippines.’’
One respected Manila-based columnist decried Shin’s assessment of the Philippine team, saying "it was smack of rudeness and disrespect to a nation that has installed him practically almost on the same pedestal occupied by local cage heroes like Carlos Loyzaga, William Adornado and Robert Jaworski."
"Maybe a complaint could be lodged with the Korean Embassy, if the report gets confirmed. Or perhaps the Foreign Affairs office could refuse him entry next time he comes knocking. But then again, it’s also possible Shin Dong Pa deserves not a diplomatic cold shoulder but a medal of honor — for telling the truth," said the columnist, a well-known basketball expert. " ... in a way, Shin was probably shaking us to our senses, giving us a free wake-up call ... He could be speaking from the heart or pulling our leg."
Aside from the Chinese and the South Koreans, the teams from the Middle East have improved tremendously over the past decade. Among them are Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, which are now regularly finishing in the top eight in the ABC.
While Lebanon is still a long way from beating China, many believe that it is now at par with, if not already better than South Korea and Japan. The Lebanese are tall and well-built, and they do have the mechanical movements of the Koreans and Japanese.
All told, the big question remains: Can the Philippines reclaim its Asian basketball throne with the help of the Fil-Ams?
They can, if one would believe the optimists, but of course it will be very, very hard.
