Guiao eyeing international event-ready team for Asiad
WHILE left with limited time to prepare, national men’s basketball team coach Yeng Guiao is determined to come up with an “international tournament-ready” team for the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia.
Suddenly thrust back to the driver’s seat after local basketball officials decided to reconsider an earlier decision not to send a team to the quadrennial games, which begins next week, Mr. Guiao said the task is going to be tough but it will not stop them from making the most of what they have and have a good showing in the Asiad.
The NLEX coach is to lead a team composed of the core of the Rain or Shine team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), souped up by players from the other PBA teams.
Making up the team are Maverick Ahanmisi, Chris Tiu, Gabe Norwood, James Yap, Beau Belga and Raymond Almazan of Rain or Shine, backstopped by Christian Standhardinger (San Miguel), Stanley Pringle (GlobalPort), JP Erram (Blackwater), Paul Lee (Magnolia), Don Trollano (TNT) and Asi Taulava (NLEX).
Part of the pool for the squad as well are Gilas cadet players Kobe Paras and Ricci Rivero.
Assisting Mr. Guiao is Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia, the former’s deputy while he was still coach of the Elasto Painters.
Messrs. Lee, Pringle and Taulava, however, are still awaiting their accreditation to play for the team from the Asian Games organizing committee, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, Inc. said, something the federation is expecting to be cleared soon. COMPETITIVE TEAM
Mr. Guiao said the players may not necessarily represent the “primary” collection of talent but it is a group that could potentially make things happen in the Asiad given the circumstances of the preparation.
“We only have eight days to prepare because on Aug. 14 we are set to leave for Indonesia. We have eight days of practice. That is really short to whip up a competitive team. Our familiarity with the Rain or Shine guys is a plus. We got Paul, who used to play for Rain or Shine, and we tried to get Poy Erram and Christian Standhardinger and good thing they were allowed to join us,” Mr. Guiao told members of media following the formal announcement of the reconsideration to send a team in the Asian Games on Sunday prior to the start of Game Five of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals.
“The next move for us is preparing for the competition. I know all the teams, except the two teams playing in the Finals (San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra), are already in the midst of their preparations for the next conference so they will be affected by this. That is part of the sacrifice that we will undertake for the country. We will pose no excuses. We will work overtime.,” added the coach, who started practice with the team yesterday.
SHOOTERS AND BIG MEN
From the pool of 14 players, Mr. Guiao said they hope to come up with a good mix of 12 players for the team, boasting of shooters and quality big men.
“When you go international, you got to have the shooters and you have to have the quality big men. I guess, that will be the basis for the next eight days of practice, who can give those. That’s the only option that we have and we have to leave out two players. I want to have reliable shooters and scorers, and then I want to have big men that could defend the bigs on the other side,” Mr. Guiao said of the kind of team they envision for their Asian Games campaign.
The Philippines is in Group B in the Asian Games along with 2014 runner-up Iran, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.
In the 2014 edition, the Philippines finished at seventh place.