ONCE the motor that kept the national team running, Jimmy Alapag knows what Gilas Pilipinas means to Philippine basketball.
After defending champion Gilas faced mounting criticism after tumbling out of the 20th Asian Games without reaching the knockout rounds, Alapag chose to give credit to the players and staff, no matter the ‘hurt’ from the result.
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“It’s tough, I think for all of us, right? I think we're all connected to the Philippines,” Alapag told a small scrum of mediamen on Thursday as he graced the opening of the Shoot 360 facility at Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas.
“I think we all would have loved to see them perform better. But they tried their best, and sometimes, you know, things like that happen.”
Alapag, whose name is forever linked to Gilas and never fails to surface in talks about the national team’s future, hopes the disappointment doesn't cloud the sacrifices the players made to fly the flag in Nagoya.
“I applaud those players in the middle of the PBA season to still dedicate their time and give their best effort,” he said.
But at the same time, the former Gilas captain doesn't expect the Asiad letdown to be swept under the rug.
“I would have loved to see the team perform better, but it’s okay, we’ll be back,” he said. “We weren’t even given an opportunity to get to the knockout stage, but this is also an opportunity for us to see how can we improve, how we can help the players so that this doesn’t happen again.”
Rather than getting caught up in the debate on whether Gilas brought its “best” players or just "good" players to Nagoya, he believes the more productive question is what can be done to make the national team better the next time around.
“For me, I don't like saying good players, best players,” Alapag said. “At the end of the day, the 12, 15 players there that were in Japan, they represented Gilas. They were the ones selected to represent the country.”
He hopes the criticism that follows the result doesn't lose sight of that.
With the latest setback prompting another discussion over the direction of the team, Alapag, shared that he’d be right there when the duty calls but made it clear that any decision on the national team is beyond his control.
“That’s not for me to decide, but you guys know my history with the Gilas program. I hold it very close to my heart, all the experiences that we had, even though it was a long time ago," said the current NLEX Road Warriors coach in the PBA.
"If ever the opportunity were to present itself, I'll be ready,” he said.
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