Gilas Pilipinas coach Yeng Guiao is encouraging national players June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter to sort of reinvent their game to be more effective for future international tournaments.
Guiao made this assessment after the Philippines lost to Kazakhstan 92-88 in the first of two games in the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers Friday night at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena.
Despite the presence of the ‘Twin Towers’ in the 6-foot-10 Fajardo, a four-time PBA Most Valuable Player, and the 7-foot Slaughter, Gilas’ frontline failed to dominate the board and fell prey to the Kazakhs’ quickness.
“When you put them side by side with the big men of other teams, you will notice right away that we may have had added size to our team, but we still do not have the quickness. So that’s the next step,” said Guiao.
“Other teams already have the size and they already have the quickness, while it’s only now that we added size. Now we have to learn how to play with some quickness,” he added.
Fajardo collected 14 points and 13 rebounds with three steals, but Slaughter was below par in his Gilas debut as he went scoreless in five minutes with one rebound and one turnover.
Other than that, Guiao said that it’s a must now for Fajardo and Slaughter to improve their outside shooting, even suggesting that both – as well as other big guys in the PBA – add the three-point shot to their offensive arsenal, which is now a requirement for tall players in international competition.
Guiao has been successful in developing frontline players that shoot a triples, with one good example being the burly Beau Belga, his former player with Rain or Shine and member of the Gilas squad who is a threat at the post and the three-point area.
“June Mar and Greg are good in the PBA, but they have to be challenged in order for them to keep upgrading their talent and skills. That’s the realization. Yes they’re the best in the PBA, but if you’re happy with that, then you’re just trying to do that as an internal objective within the Philippines, within the PBA,” said Guiao.
“But if you want to go out and compete, you have to upgrade your skills commensurate to the requirements of the international game. What I do is I have my big men shooting threes, that’s the trend now.”
If Fajardo and Slaughter, along with other big guys in the PBA with potentials of playing in future international tournaments, won’t improve, Guiao said, then the won’t be effective for the national team.
And the same goes on the defensive end since opposing teams inevitably look for mismatches, targeting slow moving centers to face quick guards on pick-and-roll plays.
“They’ll be exploited,” Guiao said. (Waylon Galvez)
