By Jonas Terrado
Having the best talent available is both an advantage and disadvantage for Gilas Pilipinas with familiarity being another cause of concern days before the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers gets going on home soil.
Such was the case in the recent four-game exhibition series against Jordan and Lebanon where Guiao experimented on rotations and plays which could be used as an advantage for the home matches against Kazakhstan on Friday and Iran on Dec. 3 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“I’m having a hard time gelling this team than the Asian Games team,” Guiao said after Sunday’s 71-60 loss to Lebanon at the Meralco Gym.
Guiao was referring to his Asian Games squad that placed fifth in Jakarta that saw nine of his past and players from Rain or Shine and NLEX composing the core powered by NBA cager Jordan Clarkson and PBA stars Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle.
“With that, we already have 7-8 guys who already know what I want, what the system is and they have a specific skills that are suited to the system,” he said. “But here, you can’t teach June Mar Fajardo or Greg Slaughter to step out to the three-point line so we have to work on those limitations.”
But that doesn’t mean Guiao is losing sleep over such concern.
“At the same time, they also bring with them some advantage so we have to compensate that with our advantage in size. We’re going to look for plays that are going to maximize the effectively of our big men.”
Guiao will have plenty of bigs to pick for the two crucial matches, with Fajardo, Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar and Standhardinger favored to make the 12-man roster.
But the challenge Guiao believes is for them to be able to meet the physicality of both Kazakhstan and Iran, particularly the latter side with veteran Hamed Haddadi leading the squad.
“The earlier they get used to the bumping and pushing, the better,” Guiao said. “Yung mga malalaki natin, mapapalaban.”
