A key learning point

LET IT be said first that in no way were we let down or left disappointed by Gilas Pilipinas in the Fiba Asia men’s basketball championship. We may have ended the tournament with a silver medal, a shade below what was needed for the team to book an outright slot to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But it was a proud moment to watch the team battle hard against a regional powerhouse. To fetch a biblical passage, our boys fought a good fight.

There will be moments when we will look back in regret at the what-could-have-beens. After all, never has China looked so vulnerable in basketball than in the past couple of years. The rise of Middle Eastern power Iran loosened what was once the Great Wall’s vise-like grip on the Asian trophy. And a disastrous stint in the 2013 edition of this tournament, where China improbably finished out of the top four, exposed flaws in the engine of the once-feared big red basketball machine.

In the end, though, a rebuilt Chinese program proved insurmountable for the passion-fueled run of an underdog. Even as China has lost the invincibility that its teams intimidated foes with, the old adage that is whispered in continental basketball circles remains true: It is always tough to beat China in China. Never mind the accusations of gamesmanship or whatever underhanded ploys the host team supposedly manufactures to guarantee a victory. No matter how weakened its teams are, even amid the rise of basketball’s nouveau pouvoir in the continent, China will always be tough to beat when it plays at home.

There is still reason to celebrate the silver medal the country won. It matches the finish Gilas Pilipinas achieved in 2013, when second place was enough to secure tickets to the 2015 World Cup. (The world championship qualifiers offer three slots to Asia; Olympic qualifiers only extend a single invite to the continent.) More than that, it proved that we are back as a country to reckon with in Asian basketball.

But we cannot fault people, too, if they look back at the tournament and rue the opportunities that Gilas Pilipinas let slip. No matter how gallant the fight the Nationals put up, there will be those who will notice that the team was a few players short of really challenging China. And once again, players who skipped the national squad or teams that forced these players to forego a stint with Gilas Pilipinas will come under fire.

But whether we choose to celebrate or choose to rue, let us not miss the key learning point from our past Fiba Asia experiences. The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) must put in place a legitimate, workable and sustainable blueprint for the senior men’s team and stop relying on the Philippine Basketball Association to lend its talents to the national squad.

The SBP was already on the right track when it formed the original Gilas Pilipinas squad. Top amateurs were picked to surround a naturalized center, who gave us much-needed size, and that team was kept together with the aim of representing the country in major meets.

The program was tinkered with and ultimately suspended in 2013, understandably so that the Philippines, right on home soil, could fast-track its bid to return to the world stage by showcasing its best team for the World Cup qualifiers. It was a necessary shortcut, yes. But as a detour from the original blueprint? Unnecessary.

The SBP could have run the cadet program side-by-side with the men’s team, with the recent Fiba Asia tournament as the goal, and we could have skipped the problem of assembling a squad by seeking help from certain PBA teams, whose commitment to the national cause was, at best, lukewarm.

If we continue to blame team and player holdouts for the missed bus to Rio de Janeiro, we will continue to miss the point and we will never be able to build on the progress we are now in the middle of.

The national team will always be merely an advocacy for the PBA and some of its squads. When it finds its pockets fattened and enjoys a record-breaking season at the cash registers, the PBA may opt to go on tree-planting activities, charity outreach programs or contribute to the national basketball cause.

To rely on the professional league is a shortsighted way to run the national basketball program. We must have something more stable, more long-term. And it is up to the SBP to cultivate talents from the grassroots and grow a team together with the aim of flying to tournaments armed with more than just a Chinaman’s chance of winning gold medals.