What Toroman thinks about the FIBA Asia Championship in Manila

Barako Bull consultant Rajko Toroman is no stranger to international competitions and the Asian Championship was once an arena he stood tall and proud in.

From the ground up, he took Iran to the top of the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship in Tokushima, Japan, making it the first nation from West Asia to win the prestigious title. The conquest of the Tokushima tournament also elevated Iran to the 2008 Beijing Olympics for the first time since 1948. The highest Iran ever placed in the Asian Championship before 2007, was 4th in 1993. After the Olympic games, Iran leaped from 45 to 23 in the world ranking. Toroman was also an assistant coach in the powerhouse Yugoslavian national team from 1991 to 1996, and head coach of the Under-22 national team of Yugoslavia in 1996.

So it’s just fitting to ask him about his thoughts on the on-going 27th FIBA Asia Championship here in Manila. Toroman watches almost all the games since Day 1.

“There are very few surprising results since the groups are not in the same level of skill, especially if you compare Group C (Iran, China, Korea, Malaysia) and Group D (Kazakhstan, India, Bahrain, Thailand). Then in the second round, everybody in Group E will try to get to first place to avoid Iran, China and Korea. Because of Qatar’s win over Taiwan, Gilas has a very good chance versus Kazakhstan. But Kazakhstan is looking tough. They played well against Gilas in the tune-up game. They cannot be taken lightly. They can be a dangerous opponent for Gilas,” said Toroman.

The former chief tactician of Gilas 1 is most impressed with Iran. “This is the strongest Iranian team I ever saw. They are complete, which never happened before. Almost always, there is at least one key player injured. But now, everybody’s healthy. They are 10 years together now, with the same starters. When I coached this team in 2007, I had the same starting five as now – Mehdi Kamrani, Hamed Afagh, Samad Nikkah Bahrami, Oshin Sahakian and Hamed Haddadi. They are experienced and matured. Plus they have Haddadi now full-time. With no current NBA contract, he wants to prove his superiority in Asia like never before. Iran now has chemistry, character and strong fighting spirit. It will be very tough for any team to beat them.”

But Toroman is surprised with the way China has played so far. “I’m quite disappointed with the way they are playing offensively especially with the talent that they have. The way they lost to Iran is quite surprising. I think the players are still adjusting with the style of their new coach, which is different from the former coach’s.”

China replaced former American coach Bob Donewald with Greek national Panagiotis Giannakis, who led Greece to a silver medal finish in the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.

“I also coached in China with the same style. We are both from Europe and our style is controlled basketball. But I had a hard time using this philosophy in China because not many of the players have a high basketball IQ. If you have smart players like Chris Tiu, Jayvee Casio and Marcio Lassiter, you can be successful with it. But I expect China to play better in the playoffs, especially when Yi returns.”

He saw a lot of improvement in the Chinese Taipei team. “The missing link in the Chinese Taipei team has always been the center position. But now with naturalized player (Quincy) Davis, who’s a good rebounder, it can be a contender for the top four. But it was a bad decision that they didn’t try to score in the last few seconds against Gilas because it could have mattered in the quotient system.”

Because of an inferior quotient in the three-way tie with the Philippines and Qatar, Taiwan ended at second place in Group E and will face 15-time champion China in the quarterfinals.

As for Korea, Toroman feels it can be the biggest threat to Iran. “They are looking very good in the games, even against Iran when they lost. They are disciplined and determined to win.”

I asked Toroman what he thought about Gilas right after its bitter loss to Chinese Taipei. His reply was encouraging.

“I think they can still make it to the Top 8, and the momentum can swing on their side. This is no time to panic. But it is time to work. The quarterfinal is the most important game in the tournament. So there is hope. And with thousands of Filipino supporters watching, Gilas will be surely motivated to play.”

Then he continued with the story about the former Yugoslavian national team that won the 2002 World Championship in Indianapolis, USA. “Yugoslavia (now Serbia) lost two games in the preliminary round and ended third place before the quarterfinals. So they had to play against the No. 2 in the group, which is the USA team with NBA players like Reggie Miller, Paul Pierce and Antonio Davis in the quarterfinals. So before the game, they already packed their bags because they didn’t expect to beat the Dream Team.”

But Yugoslavia, which starred Vlade Divac, Predrag Stojakovic and Vladimir Radmanovic, stunned the Americans in their quarterfinal match-up, 81-78, to advance to the semis. In the semis, they defeated the Tab Baldwin-mentored New Zealand, 89-78, to arrange a title bout with the unbeaten Argentina. And then the Yugoslavians survived Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni and the rest of Argentina in overtime, 84-77, to win their fifth and last world cage title.

Lastly, I asked him what he thought about the hosting of the event.

“So far everything’s fine. The venue is really nice. There are no complaints that I know of. I talked with many players, coaches and team managers and they seem to be satisfied. I don’t know about the situation with the buses and the hotel services, which are the most common complaints from before. But things look good right now.”