A different view on the Philippines this Fiba World Cup

A different view on the Philippines this Fiba World Cup

by rick olivares

The criticism vented towards the Philippine Men’s National Basketball Team and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas continues to rain down following the wake of their 86-67 loss to Tunisia.

I think people have to put in context the results before they lambast anyone.

Tunisia qualified and played for the 2012 London Olympics. Five on the roster that defeated the Philippines were in London. They added some weapons, but showed there is continuity in their program.

How did the other Asian powers fare? As of Sunday morning, it is like this…

Australia is the only one to advance to the second round is 4-0.

The others? 

China is 2-2

New Zealand 2-2

Iran 1-3

Korea 0-4

Japan 0-4

How did we fare against these other countries in the qualification phase for this World Cup?

We lost twice to both Australia and Iran. Doesn’t it stand to reason that if Iran couldn’t get past the first round, then what are our chances?

Korea had the misfortune of being cast in the same group as Argentina and Russia and in all three games, they were badly mangled. 

China was bracketed along with Poland and Venezuela (hey basketball is their national sport there). That was winnable for China but the Poles slipped past them, 79-76, in overtime.

Iran was in a group where they had a chance as the only basketball power was Spain. Puerto Rico is always dangerous and they too squeaked past Iran, 83-81. Tunisia surprised them in the very next game, 79-67, and they stayed close to Spain before losing, 73-65.

Japan was crushed by Turkey and the USA and although the margin of defeat was closer to the Czech Republic, they still didn’t stack well against the Eastern European country.

New Zealand was unlucky as they lost close games to Brazil and Greece.

I think it is a problem when you think too highly of yourself. Did we really expect some close games like the ones we experienced in 2014? I think we ambushed them and the others did not take us seriously. The Argentina side we played was an ageing one while the Croats were younger! 

We got into the World Cup by the skin of our teeth and largely because of Andray Blatche. No, Blatche, we never would have gotten in. 

I have heard and read countless people point to problems with the program, the pro league and so on.

In my opinion, the national team has done better since the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas was organized. We’ve won two silver medals in Fiba Asia and now twice made the Fiba World Cup. We’ve even participated in an Olympic Qualifier. The team has had its best finish in the Asian Games for a while now while successfully defending our gains in Southeast Asia. The youth teams are qualifying.

Granted the format has expanded, but that is not the point. Even the Fiba World Cup has expanded.

I think with all this talk about programs…  we also have to look at our culture as a whole. How we conduct ourselves on a national level is replicated on the traffic-congested streets, in the way we go about our daily lives, and in the way we play – fractured, shamelessly hot dogging and blowing our own horn.

I have heard some that other countries have played together for quite some team. That is true to an extent. It should be noted that in Europe, there is no such thing as college basketball. It is club ball and players turn pro at an early age. Not one player participating in the current Fiba World Cup does not play professional ball. So that means they are only recalled into national team service when their leagues end.

I think it is all about skill development. Did you look at how the Tunisians constantly knifed right through the Philippines’ lane?

You also have to look at the development of Tunisia. Their journey to the Olympics was masterminded by Adel Tlatli who was realistic in his approach – he didn’t think they’d blow anyone out, but he pushed his team to aspire for more.

After Tlatli, Mario Palma took over. His name should be familiar to Filipino basketball watchers as we matched wits with him when he coached Jordan from 2009-11. Palma is noted for successfully building programs and he has done so with his various basketball 

stops.

Sometimes, the simple truth of the matter is --- we ran into much better teams. However, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t improve and plug the holes. We should. 

These cycles happen. It even happens to the best of them all – the United States of America. Yes, these were bad beat downs, but if you have been really paying attention… our world just got a lot more difficult in the last several years. Time was it was just the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans that we had to worry about. Now you can throw in Iran and the other West Asian countries as well as the Oceania teams.

If that isn’t a sobering thought, then I don’t know what is.