Looking at our Gilas Pilipinas squad for the Bahrain bubble in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers

As you read this, Gilas Pilipinas are now in Bahrain to play in the second window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

After completing their training camp at their Calamba bubble, their doubleheader with Thailand on November 27 and 30 are the first games that the national side have played in more than nine months.

However, the rematch of the gold medal clash in last year’s Southeast Asian Games is actually a rescheduled one, in which their original schedule of February 20 under the Big Dome was scrapped by the international federation itself owing to the coronavirus pandemic, three days before they walloped Indonesia on their own Britama Arena floor with a thirty point beatdown to open their campaign in Group A.

With the squad already been revealed, let’s check on them before the ball will be tipped against the Thais.

Who’s in, Who’s out

Simply put, this will be one of the youngest Gilas that we have sent in a senior competitive fixture in international basketball. In other words, there are no spaces for the pros, not even the energetic Thirdy Ravena or the promising Kai Sotto in our roster.

The PBA bubble in Clark also meant that seven players, including last year’s World Cup vets in Kiefer Ravena, Troy Rosario and CJ Perez are not joining the team in Manama. So also Mark Dickel who was the mentor in the first window.

With that, interim coach Jong Uichico will lean on the four holdovers from their opening win in their 15-man pool: Isaac Go, Matt Nieto and Dwight Ramos of Ateneo and UP’s Juan Gomez De Liano.

The shifty southpaw was instrumental in the Gilas bench mob’s mauling of the hosts last February, scoring ten to backstop Thirdy’s 23 in their rout of the Rajko Toroman’s side. This time, expect him to carry more as a reliable deputy to Nieto at the point.

Furthermore, the entire quintet who came into the special draft of the PBA were also on deck, as Matt’s twin Mike, Rey Suerte and Allyn Bulanadi are also in the fray, despite the Baste sniper nursing a shoulder injury.

Banking on the young rooks

Apart from the core four, let’s also look at the newcomers who are ripe for their Gilas debut after being inserted to the pool. Thanks to our depth, our advantage against the Thais will be our flexibility, tweaking our rosters in those two games.

Turning serious, the best college programs in the country represent the rookies in the international game, with Ateneo (Will Navarro and Dave Ildefonso), UP (Javi Gomez De Liano, Jaydee Tungcab and Kobe Paras) and San Beda (Calvin Oftana and Kenmark Carino) provided Uichico a unique chemistry edge aside from our depth.
Adding a spark to coach Jong’s unit is Justine Baltazar who completed the 15-man lineup, but the La Salle big man is not to be ignored as he can be a fearsome one inside the perimeter on both ends of the floor to make up for the absence of Angelo Kouame who is yet to formalize his naturalization process.

Among those newcomers, Paras was easily the most popular, and although he had been a part of the 2017 squad that won the SEA Games gold, it will be his first experience in FIBA play, after being a fixture in the youth levels and on 3x3. 

But never count the reigning NCAA MVP out of it. At 6'5", Oftana can play both the four and the three spots to keep the defence fits, thanks to his widened shooting range.

How deep is our Gilas?

When you look at our squad in our doubleheader, the multi-functionality of Gilas will be put to the ultimate test as our players can play multiple positions.

Which means? The shooting guard and the small forward are stacked the fourth, in which time management will be the key against Thailand.

PG: Juan GDL, Matt Nieto

SG: Ramos, Ildefonso, Suerte, Tungcab

SF: Paras, Ramos, Javi GDL, Mike Nieto

PF: Navarro, Oftana

C: Go, Carino, Baltazar

From the looks of it, Gilas can get a shot in beating Thailand, thanks to the vote of confidence by coach Jong to these young guns owing to their fast learning to the system espoused by program director Tab Baldwin.

Photos: SBP (cover), FIBA, Gider Malabute/RedEye Photography