Mene mene Tekel Upharsin. It is a biblical warning; the writing is on the wall. Meaning, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; you have been weighed and found wanting. In Philippine basketball system, it’s Tinimbang ka ngunit kulang.
Time to change the players? Not really. Time to change the coach? Maybe. Time to change the system? DEFINITELY.
Year in and year out, every time we lose big time in international stage, it is always the battle cry of our leaders and every basketball crazy Filipino, change the system. We are now overtaken by our neighbors and lagging behind in Asia but after the emotion in every debacle have subsided we again revert back to the old system. Just like another day.
Come another international event, we again pick the stars of PBA and we’re back once again to the assemble-a-rag-tag-team-pick-up-type of basketball. With the belief that who knows we might score a miracle. Still believing that individual talent stands a chance against the international brand of play.
Basketball is our national passion. I agree. Puso or our fighting heart so they say is our main weapon. Hmmm, maybe but not totally. Fighting heart or grit is paramount but so as the preparation and planning.
Basketball is no longer the art of dunks and acrobatic-one-on-one-isolation plays relying much on athleticism of a player but on the contrary it’s now the exact opposite. Gone are those days. The area of battle now is hinged outside of the shaded area and going as far as the rainbow territory. Dribbling is the last option to speed up play. Everybody should be moving in a continuous motion to create the opportunity for an open shot.
We witnessed the past days of the FIBA world Cup games the divisiveness among us Filipinos, instead of unity.” Weird “as Jordan Clarkson would describe. Everyone is crying for the head of the coach of national team instead of cheering to rally our players.
Our close games against our opponents in the elimination stage reflected once again our shortcomings. It showed our unpreparedness after our almost three months of getting together as a team. It was obviously wasted on actual games when the only play that our dear Gilas superstars can execute was give the ball to Jordan Clarkson and pray that he’d make the shot. We can’t even handle the ball and execute a play to create a decent attempt. JC was always the first option and he’s even the one bringing the ball on the front court with everyone relying on his superb individual talent. Gone is the team concept. When he got five fouls during the first game, the dominoes crumbled. Everyone was caught by surprise. Even the coaches.
Players win games, coaches lose. It’s true. Chot Reyes is already hounded by criticism even before the team was assembled. The pressure in his shoulder is too much. Coach Tab is smart enough to parry the responsibility years ahead of the biggest basketball spectacle in Asia. Knowing fully well that he’ll be on the losing side once he accepts the task of coaching a rag tag team. He has been preaching for a change in the system. A change of our approach but alas he has been criticized instead thus his preference to keep quiet, resign from the national team and focus on coaching a collegiate team. Teaching and developing young talent and experiment on a system is less stressful, lesser pay maybe but more rewarding as a coach.
Meanwhile as the world progresses and power teams in the FIBA world cup paraded their superior brand of basketball and making mincemeat of third world country opponents, we just clap our hands in the sidelines and heap praises on those NBA stars who are playing practically in all teams without noticing that these individual talents have adopted well in the latest trend of Euro type basketball which is spreading like wild fire in the basketball world. Team cohesiveness win games.
And so it goes, after the games and the head of our national coach have been chopped off and a new replacement is called to lead us to the Asian Games and other international games, let me throw a simple question. Have we now solved the problem? Do we now have a fighting chance against our Asian neighbors?
Is there really a need to revamp the current Philippine basketball system? How about the current trend of Pinoy basketball talents playing in Japan, Korea and Taiwan? Is it helpful somehow in the development of our talents?
Maybe Bob Dylan have the answer on the writing on the wall.. the answer my friend is blowing in the wind; the answer is blowing in the wind.
