Talking to Coach Tim Lewis

Talking to Coach Tim Lewis

 by rick olivares

Tim Lewis is an English basketball coach who learned the game in the United States. He’s worked with the Toronto Raptors organization as well as the Great Britain national team. Most recently, he guided Thailand to a third place finish in the Seaba tournament that was held in Manila.

Lewis graced the first day of Gilas Pilipinas practice at the Upper Deck Sports Center in Pasig City where he worked on the Filipinos’ zone defense.

After practice, we spoke with Lewis who shared a few things.

On the aborted Thailand stint:

Obviously, it was a quick turnaround. We played in the Seaba, when you look at a performance perspective, we took a weak team with young and inexperienced players on the basis of what the federation wanted. There were some injuries. They didn’t want to play the Asean guys because of showing too much before the Sea Games. They wanted to play the Thai-Americans. It was too late to change up things.

Given what we had, I think a lot of people will agree that we competed. The loss to Indonesia was frustrating. We couldn’t make shots. The shooters shot poorly. They used that as a reason to release me after a trip to the US. It was disappointing more than anything. But it is what it is.

It’s hard when you’ve got inexperienced players and when you put the lights on and expect them to perform. We made progress over the last 15 months from the Stankovic Cup to the Seaba. Placing third isn’t a bad result. The Philippines, hands down, was going to win that tournament. For anyone to expect anything else was unrealistic. I think they wanted to place second and not third.

I was pleased that our players competed for 12-15 minutes against the Philippines. The next one is to compete for two quarters. That’s your improvement the next time you go.

I arrived after a flight and I was told they were not keeping me.

On being a guest in Manila for TNT and Gilas:

I know Josh (Reyes) well. We’ve competed against each other and remained in touch. He said that if you’re not doing anything come on over and be around. See what we can do with Talk ‘N Text. Then coach (Chot) said, bring him over. I wanted to come around too. I thought I’d just watch practice. Then had this improve to teach with is a great honor. I really appreciate it. It is an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.

We just talk about basketball. Bouncing ideas off each other. If something comes – working longer term, I’d love it.