STARS as they may be for their respective teams, the young players composing the Gilas Pilipinas pool will have to play as one team once it plays in the upcoming November window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers.
It's the stance national team coach Jong Uichico and the rest of his coaching staff have imposed on these youthful cadets team, that no matter how good they are in their collegiate teams, they still have to operate as one unit once they get to Bahrain.
"Lahat naman magaling. Hopefully in time, we can all get these talents to play as one," he told Radyo5's Power and Play with Noli Eala on Saturday.
It doesn't mean, though, that there weren't any standouts.
Uichico rattled off the names of Juan Gomez de Liaño and Kobe Paras as among those who impressed him, and also took exception of the stellar pieces that this Gilas team has.
"We have complete role players in Will Navarro, Javi (Gomez de Liano) is a good spot-up shooter, Rey Suerte and Jaydee (Tungcab) are also good. Actually, lahat talaga sila magagaling," he said.
Uichico also checked the names of Matt Nieto as a "cerebral point guard" and Dwight Ramos as a "smart, deliberate player" in his quick assessment.
To the veteran mentor, exposing these talents in games like these could only be beneficial for the progress of the Gilas program in the long term, especially in the buildup for the 2023 Fiba World Cup.
"If they will be exposed to numerous international competitions, malaki yung magiging development ng mga bata dito," he said.
It also gives the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) a chance to see who among the up-and-comers will be fit to be part of the program's future as it also serves as a test run for them to earn future callups with the national team.
"Honestly speaking, some will not be good enough. May mga players na pang-international, may players na hindi, and that's why we're exposing them to see kung sino ang pang-international," he said. "Itong mga amateurs, eventually they will develop and make it to the PBA, so to us, there will be a transition na sa susunod na Gilas, salin na lang ng salin. That's the perfect scenario for us."
___
For more Gilas updates, click here.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
