Motto of Gilas: No pain, no Spain

The Gilas Pilipinas national basketball team had an unwritten motto – “No Pain, No Spain” which dramatized their readiness to make the sacrifices necessary to be able to fulfill the quest for a place in the FIBA World Cup in Spain, next September.

The sacrifices the players, coaching staff and even the utility guys made were recognized by Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas president, business tycoon Manny Pangilinan whose passionate support for a number of sports, particularly basketball, is legendary.

Pangilinan referred to “the devotion of these players to their families” citing Marc Pingris, reserve Beau Belga who gave it his all throughout the training stint, Larry Fonacier, Gary David, Gabe Norwood and others.

The distinguished businessman-sportsman told Yahoo! Philippines, “It was a very human experience that strengthened family ties. The values that they showed the country was important . We are normal people with normal values.”

The togetherness of the families in their shared sacrifices was a touching aspect which should serve as an example to our countrymen.

The long stint in Lithuania followed by the hard grind in New Zealand were demanding on the players and the coaching staff both physically and mentally. But to achieve their goal the players had to go through some abnormal if not challenging times as the “No Pain, No Spain” philosophy rang out time and again with injured players playing through the pain and effectively shutting it out of their minds and bodies when they had to.

The epic struggle to beat formidable South Korea in a semifinal battle that assured Gilas Pilipinas a trip to the World Cup was the finest example of what the players went through and how they stuck together to overcome the hardships.

When naturalized player Marcus Douthit aggravated a painful calf injury and had to hobble off the court with five minutes remaining in the game against South Korea and cut a forlorn figure on the bench, most people felt with Douthit’s injury went our chances of pulling through.

But they obviously didn’t reckon with the courageous fighting hearts of Pingris and Ranidel De Ocampo both of whom were injured but played on and were unmindful of the pain.

They hardly noticed that Douthit was not going to return to the game and with a super-human effort willed Gilas Pilipinas to win in a gripping end-game struggle that won the respect of the South Koreans who had given the Philippines so many heartaches in the past, and the admiration of a sell-out crowd that wept in unison with the coaching staff and the players as they embraced each other and savored a historic moment.

While the victory was sweet, the challenge that lies ahead is formidable.

Pangilinan himself made it clear in a conversation with us a couple of days after the championship game in which we lost to mighty Iran with Douthit unable to play, that he wants a competitive team to carry the Philippine colors in Spain.

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While there are those who feel the same team that earned the country a berth in Spain should remain intact, MVP acknowledges that while this is “sentimentally correct” some changes need to be made.

With an array of experienced big men carrying the load for teams such as Argentina, Spain, Lithuania, Australia, Russia and of course the star-studded United States aside from Asian qualifiers Iran and South Korea, he realizes that the national team has to be strengthened on two fronts.

While Marcus Douthit has played his heart out for the Philippines and done well, Pangilinan and coach Chot Reyes are looking at getting two, young, big men naturalized just in case the 32-year-old Douthit gets injured like he did in the FIBA Asia Championships.

Deputy Speaker Roberto “Robbie” Puno, who led the effort to get Douthit naturalized, has told Congress in a privilege speech that Gilas Pilipinas needs to acquire two naturalized players to help the Philippines in the World Cup in Spain next year.

His proposal received bipartisan support with PBA coach and congressman Yeng Guiao indicating that it's best to have two players naturalized so “we don’t have to keep going back to Congress.”

It's now up to the coaching staff headed by Chot Reyes to talk to the players the coaching staff have in mind and find out whether they would wish to be naturalized. Of course, the attraction would be a chance to play in the World Cup.

Pangilinan told us, “If you are looking even beyond 2014 you need someone in his mid 20’s and at least have 2 more naturalized players.”

Conscious of the contributions of Douthit, Pangilinan said the naturalization of two more players doesn’t necessarily mean that Douthit would be left out. Pangilinan believes Douthit “will still be a candidate” but maintained that “we need somebody younger and maybe stronger and bigger because who knows in the course of the next 12 months Douthit may get injured, then where are we” with Douthit appearing to be susceptible to injury now.

Pangilinan has given Reyes and his assistant coaches and former national team mentors Norman Black and Jong Uichico instructions “to start searching” even as he mentioned that the candidates for naturalization “don’t have to be Americans.”

Reyes has for some time now set his eyes on the Denver Nuggets' center JaVale McGee who gave Filipinos a glimpse of his ability when he suited up for an NBA selection that included superstars Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose and Chris Paul among others who played against a PBA All Star squad and Smart Gilas during the NBA lockout.

In Reyes’ assessment McGee “would be perfect” even as he intimated to us he’s been looking at a couple of others including some prospects from Europe.

A first-round pick of the Washington Wizards in 2008, McGee was traded to the Nuggets on March 15 last year. Over seven feet tall and 25 years old McGee was outstanding in Game 5 of the NBA Playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers scoring 21 points. In 79 games in the season he averaged 9.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

If Iran’s dominating center, seven footer Hamed Haddadi had to match-up against McGee, the Gilas Pilipinas head coach was certain he “wouldn’t be able to do anything against McGee who is taller and jumps higher.” Pangilinan shared the views of Reyes. In his own evaluation “if we had Douthit who would have been good for 10 points and Haddadi would not have had so many rebounds, the result would not have been different but it would have been a harder task for them.”

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Naturalizing players is a reflection of sports going global. The Philippines in seeking to naturalize players is abiding strictly by the rules of FIBA. Several countries in the last FIBA Asia Championship fielded one naturalized player which is basically an effort to equalize the chances of the Asian teams with the possible exception of China because otherwise basketball will be dominated by the United States and the European countries.

While he believes we should be realistic about our chances in Spain, Pangilinan is not about to send a team of tourists, insisting that the Philippines should never settle for finishing last but aim for a place somewhere in the middle of the 24 competing teams even though that in itself is a tough ask.

By nature, Pangilinan is someone who wants to win whether it be in sports or in the field of competitive business and sending a non-competitive team is simply “s not acceptable” although he admits “we can’t tell the country we’ll be world champions either.”

He is willing to make certain considerations even though they are laced with a touch of sentiment. Team captain Jimmy Alapag who anchored the Gilas Pilipinas run has made it known he’d like to end his illustrious career by representing the country in Spain.

Aware of the fact that he’s getting on in years, Pangilinan has proposed that Alapag maybe skip one of next year’s conferences so he could be well rested for the World Cup.

Much of the changes, if any, will depend on the response of the nine other PBA teams. Will they stick to one player per team or will they open the avenues for the coaching staff to pick the players they believe will strengthen the team. Will they merely pay lip service to the national effort or will they support it wholeheartedly as the people demand? Only time will tell.

Former national coach and the man who steered Iran to its first FIBA Asia Championship Rajko Toroman believes there are no less than 40 players in the PBA who could find a place on the national team. But while this may be true, the biggest challenge facing the SBP will be in convincing the PBA teams to release players.

One thought is to expand the current roster of each team so that if players are pulled out for national duty there will be others who could step up and fill the gap during the PBA conferences.
The matter of expenses could not be advanced as an excuse when, in the past, PBA teams brought in two highly-paid imports per team. Surely two or three additional locals won’t cost anywhere near as much.

Pangilinan acknowledges that they have to develop a schedule and “sit down and at some point talk to the PBA in terms of releasing players. That’s going to be a rather long discussion, I suspect.”

He is so right.

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.