Should players be added to the Gilas pool?

MANILA, Philippines — I have to admit, after reading about the “departure” of both Kelly Williams and Jared Dillinger from the Gilas Pilipinas pool (the former due to a rare blood condition and the latter due to a vehicular accident), I felt worried that only 15 players remained in coach Chot Reyes’s troop. A lot of people talked to me and asked my opinion about the situation. Should coach Chot add two guys as replacements for Kelly and Jared? Who could those guys be?

At first, my knee-jerk reaction was, YES, coach Chot should definitely consider adding two guys to the pool to fill the slots vacated by Kelly and Jared. In fact, I already had two names in mind – Petron’s Arwind Santos and Air21’s Niño Cañaleta. Why them? Well, I feel they pretty much possess the same skill-sets as Kelly and Jared, and nothing would really be compromised in terms of size and experience.

Arwind was part of the 2009 Powerade Team Pilipinas under coach Yeng Guiao. That team placed eighth in the 2009 FIBA Asia Championships in Tianjin, China. Cañaleta, for his part, already recently played under coach Chot as one of the top guns of Gilas in the 2013 Dubai Invitational Tournament and 2013 Super Kung Sheung Cup. He was the second leading scorer of the team in Dubai and Gilas’s most consistent perimeter option in Hong Kong.

For me, adding both Santos and Cañaleta made perfect sense, especially since both also recently expressed interest in joining the pool.

And then I attended the Gilas practice this past Monday, April 29, 2013, at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

For the first time, I saw members of the Gilas cadet pool present to train with the “seniors.” Jake and Ronald Pascual, RR Garcia, Garvo Lanete, Matt Rosser, and Kevin Alas were all in the arena to train with coach Chot and the main Gilas crew. With the exception of Rosser, who went to college in the US, all of those cadets were standouts in local college ball. In Garcia’s case, he still IS, since he will return for one final tour of duty with the Tamaraws this year.

Throughout the practice session, all six cadets accounted really well for themselves. Jake Pascual, despite being severely undersized compared to the trees of Gilas, was a warrior around the basket. Garcia, Lanete, and Alas were pretty good at playmaking and, of course, outside shooting. Rosser was basically Gabe Norwood with an Afro, and Ronald Pascual surprised me with his hops! Wasn’t he just injured in the previous NCAA season?! I immediately observed that perhaps any of these guys could make the final 12 and actually be significant contributors.

The morning of the practice, in the midst of calls for him to name replacements for Kelly and Jared, coach Chot tweeted the following message:

@coachot : While we never predicted d KW & JD events to happen, we planned for attrition. That’s why we picked 17. Now it’s down to 15 w 3 mos to go”

15 strong.

In reality, Gilas is really stronger than that. The cadet pool ensures a steady stream of fresh talent should the need arise (like now), and there are other amateurs who, at least in theory, can step in right away because of their previous international experience, namely in the Sinag-Pilipinas team that bagged the 2011 SEA Games basketball crown. These guys are Nico Salva of the NLEX Road Warriors, Ray Parks of the NU Bulldogs, and Kiefer Ravena of the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

For those of you who might think coach Chot’s refusal to induct new members to the pool smacks of hubris or close-mindedness, I have this to say – you cannot be any more wrong. After this past Monday’s practice session, and after reflecting on the past two months that Gilas has been training, I have realized that it makes perfect sense for coach Chot to stick with his current roster and cadets, depleted though they may seem. The reality is coach Chot needs players who are in-tune with his system, players who have had significant high-level experience in international basketball, and players who no longer have any longstanding or complicated obligations to their mother clubs/leagues.

This is the kind of situation no coach plans, but every great coach prepares for. This is the time when character and commitment are truly tested. This is the time our chosen few are being called to step-up.

And they will.

#parasabayan – Rappler.com