By REYNALD MAGALLON
Former Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin hopes that Gilas Pilipinas take full advantage of three-month preparation time ahead of the FIBA 2023 World Cup even as he lauded the sacrifices being made by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
While the national team finally got the preparation time it’s been longing ever since, Baldwin, who is the current Ateneo mentor, said the availability of the players during the training camps would be crucial for coach Chot Reyes to employ his system and develop a one cohesive and fighting unit for the global showpiece.
“It gives the coaching staff, coach Chot, and his staff, an immeasurable amount of time to prepare. But I wonder, is he going to have a full team. And for how much of that three months,” said Baldwin.
“Every minute of preparation that you would have a full team goes a long way towards being a strong basketball team. Every minute you don’t have a full team, you take away from the quality of preparation that three months gives you,” he added.
While players from the PBA will be readily available for the training camp after the league has decided to cut its season to two conferences next year, the availability of the international players including NBA star Jordan Clarkson and Adelaide center Kai Sotto will play a huge factor to the quality of the Gilas preparations.
“Obviously, I’m talking about the players like Jordan Clarkson, Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, the players playing in Japan, the players playing in Korea and Taiwan. How much of those three months will they be there?,” the veteran mentor said.
“While the three months are great, what we really have to focus on is, is Chot going to get one week with those guys or is he going to get one month which would be extraordinary in itself. The jury is still out on the value of those three months but it is an extraordinary measure achieved by the SBP and taken by the PBA,” he added.
Nonetheless, Baldwin lauded the PBA, understanding the sacrifice it has to make for the cause of the national team.
“It cannot be underestimated how difficult it was. A lot of people say the PBA should be two conferences. I don’t think they stop for somebody and lose one whole conference of work in terms of media coverage. They don’t think about the ticket takers, the security people, the media people, all the people that would lose income because of there not being a third conference,” explained Baldwin.
“This is a huge step taken by the PBA and not taken lightly. And the fans must understand, this was not easy for the PBA to do. This wasn’t just a Gilas thing. It’s a PBA decision which is extraordinary and it’s a massive sacrifice.”
OFFER TO HELP GILAS
He also stressed that there’s no bad blood between him and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and that he is, in fact, open in helping the national team in its preparations for the FIBA 2023 World Cup.
Talking in an interview with Radyo 5’s Power and Play with Kom Noli Eala, Baldwin said that he is not ‘antagonistic’ of the federation and that he decided to speak out in hopes to pacify the fans and help the federation and the national team program that have been battered by jeers, boos and criticisms.
“I think the whole point of me speaking out is that there has to be a coming together and if the fans weren’t interested in me there wouldn’t be any need for me to speak but seemingly you know there have been and I want to do my part to help for the World Cup,” said Baldwin.
“I’m not antagonistic to the SBP. I kinda left them alone to do their job and they kinda left me alone to do my job but I think because of the angst that’s out there in social media particularly, I think we all need to take steps to try and heal our basketball landscape,” he added.
Baldwin said he’s been supportive of the national team and is not entirely closing his doors on a possible Gilas comeback but it will all depend on the decision of Reyes.
“Always have been (open on helping Gilas). There’s no prevarication on my part for that and boss MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) knows that and I received a text message that I’m very grateful for from Boss Al (Panlilio) last night. obviously I don’t want to call it the healing process of but the process of communication is underway,” said Baldwin.
“I think this should be Chot’s decision, nobody else. If I’m in Chot’s shoes you know I wouldn’t want anybody telling me who I should have as my staff and who I should be assembling,” he added.
