June Mar Fajardo to use outside shot for Gilas Pilipinas

MANILA, Philippines – June Mar Fajardo, a two-time reigning PBA MVP, is undisputedly the best inside threat in Philippine basketball today.

Standing at a towering 6-foot-11 with advanced fundamentals, strength, and instinct, the 26-year-old is at his best when working in the low block and using sound moves to get open in the paint.

But come the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers in Manila in July, don’t be surprised if you see Fajardo planting his feet far from the basket, squaring his shoulders, and shooting jump shots.

“I think our big men are going to have to be prepared to shoot the ball from the perimeter,” Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin said on Wednesday, May 25, after a 3-hour practice session at the Meralco Gym in Pasig.

“We have such good slashing guards that if our big men can open up the middle a little bit, I think that’s going to help us out.”

Fajardo, a native of Cebu, confirmed that he’s working on making his outside shot more consistent with Gilas expected to face opponents in the qualifiers with superior height. 

“Just now with Gilas,” he said in Tagalog, “because we really need it. Our opponents will be tall.”

The Philippines will battle for a ticket to the Rio Olympics against New Zealand, France, Senegal, Turkey and Canada.

“I don’t see, for most of them, that being the priority,” Baldwin noted, saying that the main objectives of the bigs will be to score in the paint, screen, rebound, and more. “But we’d like to have that weapon in our arsenal, yeah.”

Fajardo’s stroke has looked good in practice, where he’s gone stretches of hitting consecutive 3-pointers in shoot-arounds and drills.

June Mar Fajardo, the jump shooter. pic.twitter.com/jVT5LZelk5

— Rappler Sports (@RapplerSports) May 25, 2016

But according to pba-online.net, the San Miguel big man has attempted 13 3-pointers in his 4-year PBA career and has hit just one.

“I don’t know,” Fajardo laughed, when asked if he will bring his 3-point shooting to the PBA, “Coach [Leo Austria of the Beermen] might get mad.”

Fajardo said that while he played college ball in Cebu, when he was only 6-foot-4, he first learned to develop his outside shot before anything on the court. “When I was in college, that was all I used to do,” he said.

Times have changed. Now, Fajardo’s main weapon is tricking defenders inside and scoring easy layups most of the time if he’s not getting fouled. It’s worked well – so far this PBA season (two conferences), he’s averaging 20.1 points and 11.9 rebounds a game, on pace for another MVP award.

But Baldwin believes that with enough work, Fajardo could potentially become also a lethal shooter from downtown.

“No question. He’s got really good shot mechanics, and he can be a great shooter, but he has to put the work in. It’s not just going out [and] doing some casual reps; he has to do some very concerted shooting workouts and he has to be committed to being that kind of player,” said the head coach, who admitted he wouldn’t be so keen on Fajardo taking 3-balls if he was his coach in the PBA.

“And to be honest, in the PBA I don’t think his team would encourage that and I wouldn’t either, because he’s such a dominant inside force,” he said. 

“So, whether that will happen or not I don’t really know, but I think that he could develop that if he really wanted to.” – Rappler.com