CHRIS Daleo noted the changing landscape of Southeast Asian basketball that Thailand must keep up in order to stay competitive in the region.
The Thailand head coach said the Philippines, Indonesia, and even Vietnam are making great strides in order to improve their quality of play in international competition.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what’s going on,” said Daleo after Thailand’s loss to Indonesia in their final game of the Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers. “People are investing dollars. People are investing time. People are making projection for their team.”
Gilas Pilipinas under head coach Tab Baldwin has installed a program built on young players that are being primed to play in the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup.
Coached by Rajko Toroman, Indonesia, meanwhile, has acquired two naturalized players in Lester Prosper and Marques Bolden to jumpstart their build-up for the Fiba Asia Cup that it is hosting this year.
“Philippines is moving along in a very rapid pace. You're going to see that against Korea again. They set forth a project to build a program. They are doing it. They have height. They have a lot of heart. They have a lot of determination. They have a projected plan on where they want to go,” said Daleo.
“Indonesia, we beat them in the SEA Games, that was great. But look how much they’ve done since then. They’ve taken that and they have moved forward. They will have two naturalized players that they can choose from. They’ve done a great job in their coaching staff. They’ve done a great job of preparing their teams.
Daleo said even Vietnam is also preparing its national team for the long haul with Harvard product Christian Juzang eyed to become the naturalized player.
“Vietnam is working. I mean, the SEA Games is in jeopardy there but they are putting together a group for their SEA Games roster to play in the VBA league. Based on what happened when we beat them in the SEA Games, they are saying ‘What are we going to do to compete.’ They brought in Christian Juzang from Harvard, a great point guard. They are going to try him to get naturalized and play. He has a passport. They are working on that,” said Daleo.
Daleo said Thailand must also keep up with the developments of basketball in other Southeast Asian countries. Overall though, the programs in the Philippines and Indonesia will be beneficial to the region.
“Thailand has to look at those things and do the same thing in order to keep up with these people. If not, they are moving, they are going, and they are doing great things for basketball,” said Daleo.
“I think it’s great for the region. More powerful basketball that you can have, the better it is. I think it’s fantastic to have that in your region. It’s great,” said Daleo.
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