Like I said a few posts back, I welcome any insight about the Smart Gilas squad, given that a lot of people really care about the promising team. A Smart Gilas insider (I know who he is, but for obvious reasons couldn’t disclose the identity) left a very interesting comment on my last post about the team. I’m republishing the most interesting parts of his comment here for more people to see:

Mac Baracael has been playing at the four position most of the time and he has been way more effective there when compared to Japeth. Japeth hasn't been rebounding too well and has been making good decisions. Plus he has not been playing good defense.

As for the PBA players, no coach Raijko is not interested in Asi at all. He was simply using him as a measure for the size that he needs. the only PBA player that he really wants (which i think finally came out publicly today) is kelly williams because he would be a perfect fit for the 4 position because of his rebounding and shooting.

As for the guards, Toroman is completely happy with all of them and he is just waiting for Lutz to come then his lineup for guards will be complete. I know a lot of people dont like Tiu, but when he averages the most minutes on the team, that says alot for a guy who is so short. Watching their games, it would seem that it is his fault when the guards score but truth is, he does everything coach Raijko asks him to on defense. he follows their defensive philosophy to the letter and often enough it is due to his teammates' mistakes in following their help side rules on defense that lead his man to score. He is just the leader of the team and sticks his team together. A true role player indeed.

Baracael has been great and Jvee Casio has been very good too. Barroca is actually not playing so well anymore and is getting berated at times for not passing the ball and setting the plays up properly.

Like I said in the previous post, I hadn’t seen enough of Smart Gilas in Dubai, so these are more general thoughts. That said, I was thoroughly impressed with the team’s performance, and like any other Pinoy basketball fan, I am hopeful that this is the start of the team’s steady climb.

Anyway, some of my thoughts, in bullets:

• Rajko Toroman is preparing his team to defend against bigger teams, and so far it’s working. It shouldn’t come as a surprise though, because the team did well too against bigger teams in the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup last year even when CJ Giles went down. Does anyone else find it funny that the strategy works for 6’11” American imports but not for 6’3” PBA forwards? Good thing Gilas won’t have to play against Richard Yee or Chad Alonzo in the Asian Games.


• Mac Baracael was the breakout star for Gilas in the tournament, especially in the last few games. I’m curious to know, from those who’ve been watching, what position he has been playing. Back in the Champions Cup, he saw a lot of action as an undersized power forward and stepped up big-time. Interestingly, Toroman’s wish list before the Dubai tournament if he had a choice of PBA players consisted of Kelly Williams, Gabe Norwood, Jared Dillinger, and Arwind Santos, all of whom play Baracael’s small forward position. I wonder if the list still looks like that today, or if he plans to go small-ball with a wingman playing the four-spot.


• Curiously, Toroman has name-dropped Asi Taulava in interviews after the Dubai tournament as someone who could fill in the team’s needs. Interesting.


• Chris Tiu has been quite a surprise. He’s really, actually good. He’s bulked up, and he’s surprisingly athletic—although PBA 2-guards still gave him a lot of trouble. It’s not as much of a problem against Middle Eastern club teams, who probably don’t run as many isolations and pick-and-rolls for their shooting guards. He gets a lot of cheap points in the Gilas half-court set, not just off jumpers, but backdoor cuts, screen-and-rolls, etc. He’s not a superstar, but he’s mind-numbingly solid. He’s just so steady, which was probably why he kept playing well in the PBA even as the rest of his teammates were struggling. I apologize to Tiu for calling him the next Alfie Almario.
  
  (This was actually originally part of an email exchange with Rafe Bartholomew, who suggested the title: “Giving credit where credit is Tiu.” Rafe’s book on Philippine basketball, “Pacific Rims” is now available for pre-order on Amazon.)


• Is Jayvee Casio the Franz Pumaren to Mark Barroca’s Hector Calma? And is this girl the Christine Jacob in this analogy? Does that make JR Cawaling the Elmer Reyes of this team? One thing I’m sure of: Magi Sison is definitely not the next Yves Dignadice.


• As Bill Simmons would say, the turd in the punch bowl is definitely Jamal Sampson, who has reportedly been kicked off the team. I thought it would be funny to go back and read Quinito Henson’s series of stories building up Sampson’s credentials before joining Gilas. And you know what? They’re fucking HILARIOUS.

I’m trying to find the right words to say about the very impressive win by Smart Gilas, which is hard, especially since after the game I went out drinking with j_myxx and NeekoBoi (and their awesome dad) of Patay ang Butiki, Gary of Basketball Exchange, and Toff Rada of toffrada.

Anyway, some tipsy thoughts, in bullet points:

• Rajko Toroman deserves all the credit in the world for the job he’s done. I finally figured out why he’s so good, and it’s not because he has arcane coaching technology or that he has a higher basketball IQ than our local coaches; it’s because he outworks them. It’s obvious in their product on the court. The crisp cuts, the pinpoint passing, the excellent communication, the perfect defensive rotations (with their tiny guards knowing where to funnel their men) – these were all drilled meticulously during boring, monotonous practice sessions. I can’t imagine Filipino coaches dealing with such minutiae. Well, there’s Tim Cone, but he’s American.


• This is all reflected in Chris Tiu’s post two weeks ago about playing for Toroman: “Practices are always intense. Coach T himself is very intense in every single practice, more so during games. Sometimes we fear for his blood pressure. He is never ever late and there's no excuse for being late. He runs the drills himself while the assistant coaches support him, not the other way around like in many professional teams. He is extremely particular with the details and making the right decisions in every play offensively and defensively. He is a perfectionist.”


• In the same post, Chris Tiu talked about how he gave Mark Barroca a rosary and a St. Josemaria Escriva prayer card from his mom after they talked about Barroca’s troubles.


• Also, Chris Tiu tweeted this the other night: “Was able to get free tickets to Air Supply tonight!! Can't wait to watch one of my favorite oldie bands live :)”


• By the way, James Yap and Chris Tiu were matched up for most of the game. Yap may have won the battle of the metrosexual showbiz stars, but Tiu won the war.


• I am trying to figure out how psyche myself into rooting for Chris Tiu during international competition. I’ll have it down by 2011, I guess.


• Before the game, I was exchanging emails with Rafe Bartholomew and I offered this caveat about Powerade Team Pilipinas: I thought a well-trained PBA team like, say, Alaska, could probably beat them at this point just because they haven’t been playing together, and that some of the guys are coming off long layoffs. True enough, Powerade’s play was uglier than Mark Barroca.


• Loved how Toroman has assigned roles to players: Barroca is the only one allowed to freelance on offense, Jayvee Casio has the greenlight to shoot jumpers off their double high-pick, the power forward (Japeth Aguilar or Aldretch Ramos) can shoot off pick-and-pops, and CJ Giles can go for a quick-hitting move on the left block. Also loved the cross-pick at the elbow for Dylan Ababou that freed him up time and again for a jumper from the top of the key.


• While tonight’s victory was great, I imagine Smart Gilas would have a tougher time against other PBA teams, whose coaches usually do scouting and custom preparation for other opponents. Unlike, say, Powerade coach Yeng Guiao, who just goes ahead and coaches with his balls.

In my previous post, I described the game in my previous post as a clash of basketball culture, and a defining moment for our collective basketball soul. Let me leave with a couple of quotes. First, from noted poet and basketball fan, Sherman Alexie:

I am a holistic basketball fan.

I love the wins and losses. I love the spectacular assists and idiotic turnovers. I love the poetry of teamwork and the pornography of jump shots taken too early in the shot clock.

Next, from the Free Darko philosophy, which appropriately captures what Rafe described as the unique essence of the Filipino game:

A large part of what we've deified here has been domination-through-style, the star as an existential force who asserts himself in the face of bland, functional models of play.

Shoals expounded:

Stars belong to everyone, even if you think your way into their palace of grandeur is unique in its sparkling twists and turns. To cement your preference in great and visible objects, there has to be another moody presence in the room, an equal and opposite reaction that allows you to define them as they define you.

I wasn’t able to tweet during the Team Pilipinas game versus Kuwait or post a quick report on it because I was out late partying with Lady Gaga last night. Just kidding. Anyway, this morning, my friends who went to the show couldn’t get over the size of her penis.

Oh, right, the game. Team Pilipinas won over Kuwait, 85-71, and the game was apparently so unremarkable that a minor commotion erupted on Twitter about the pronunciation of the Kuwait. I’m just glad Andy Jao wasn’t involved; otherwise, people would be flooding my email again demanding that I burn him at the stake.

Team Pilipinas now prepares for a tough quarterfinal outing against the loser of tonight’s showdown between China and Jordan, which is probably going to be Jordan. I don’t want to look ahead, and I feel like I’ve said enough about that match-up. I just think that while we would decidedly be underdogs, we have a fighting chance. That’s all we could hope for at this point.

Anyway, while we’re here, let’s talk about a couple of stories that came out this morning. There was this filler piece posted on GMA News titled “Wanted: Caidic-like triggerman for RP team.” I read that and thought to myself, “Wow, what an absolute piece of garbage.”

First, it’s unfair because since the Korea game, our perimeter game has been humming, and the outside shooting of our backcourt has been the key to our performance. It’s a slap in the face for Willie Miller, James Yap, Jayjay Helterbrand, and even Cyrus Baguio, who have been the heroes of this team.

Second, the Philippines will never run out of guards who can snipe; the 2002 Asian Games team and the 2007 Fiba-Asia team did fairly well from the perimeter, even if neither team had a gunner as good as Caidic on the roster. The writer could have written “Wanted: Kobe Bryant-like scorer for RP team” or “Wanted: Tim Duncan like inside presence for RP team” and he would have been more accurate.

Team Pilipinas coach Yeng Guiao also made the sports headlines as he called for the PBA to continue representing the country in international competitions by forming a pool that would play regularly during PBA break. It's an idea with which I wholeheartedly agree. I believe that the best players in the country should represent us in international play, and with apologies to the Smart Gilas Developmental Team, they’re not the best players in the country. Who would you rather have taking the last shot for Team Pilipinas, James Yap or Chris Tiu? Mac Cardona or JV Casio?

Oh, and don’t throw the Northern Consolidated Cement national team analogy in my face. You know what else the NCC team had? Three imports: Dennis Still, Jeff Moore, and Chip Engelland. You could talk about the system till you’re blue in the face, but at the end of the day, between two teams with the same amount of preparation, talent wins.

The economic downturn is affecting everyone, and it has hit local amateur commercial basketball particularly hard. The Philippine Basketball League, the traditional breeding ground for Philippine basketball's rising stars, beginning their new tournament while reeling from the departure of two members (Burger King and Toyota Otis), are down to five teams.

It makes sense. Unlike the PBA, the PBL is truly borne out of love: companies pay teams to play in near-empty arenas and there is next to no one watching on television.

This is Fire Quinito's primer for each team, with a different twist: a profile of each team owner. Who are they, and what do they do? And why the hell are they still in the PBL?

Cecilio Pedro and Lamoiyan Corporation's newest team, the Licealiz Hair Doctors, are up next.

Cecilio Pedro of Lamoiyan Corporation is not quite as prominent a name in the sporting world as colleagues Mikee Romero, Bong Tan, or Danding Cojuangco, but he's every bit as big a supporter of amateur commercial basketball. His team has competed in the PBL under several different incarnations: the Hapee Toothpaste Complete Protectors, Dazz Dishwashing Paste, Kutitap Toothpase, and now, the Licealiz Hair Doctors, which features the dynamic duo of Chris Tiu and Jayvee Casio. That has to be my favorite team name ever.

Pedro is also known in showbiz circles as a close personal friend of German Moreno. In fact, when watching Kuya Germs's "Walang Tulugan with the Master Showman", television commercials for Hapee Toothpaste dominate the breaks. As a result, Dazz Dishwashing Detergent is always among the products given by Kuya Germs to his guests (alongside with cans of Birch Tree powdered milk).

But Pedro is an acclaimed name in the business world, too, and his success in a field by multinational giants Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever continues to be an inspiration to local entrepreneurs everywhere. He was also hailed by Ernst & Young as the country's Entrepreneur of the Year, not just because of his success in the boardroom, but also because of his commitment to social change:

While enjoying the success of being the first Filipino to ever penetrate the toothpaste market that has been dominated by multinational companies, Pedro has chosen to use his entrepreneurial skills to help provide opportunities to others. A staunch advocate of the hearing impaired, Pedro helps provide free college education to at least 200 deaf-mute students through the Deaf Evangelistic Alliance Foundation, Inc. (DEAF), which he currently chairs.

Pedro also employs over 30 deaf-mute staff in his company, and helps provide them with free housing. To narrow the communication gap between his hearing-impaired and hearing personnel, Pedro has also required his managers to learn sign language.

(No more jokes from me here. You try making fun of that.)