What coach Tim Cone did to form the Gilas Pilipinas’ team for the 30th Southeast Asian Games last year was simple: get the core of Barangay Ginebra and reinforce it with other PBA players.
For the league’s winningest tactician, he went with an all-professional team to lessen the time needed to teach his system, with the national team then pressed for time.
That formula ultimately led to success. The Filipino dribblers dominated the competition on their way to giving the country its 13th straight gold — 18th overall — in the biennial meet.
“Tim really did a really smart thing,” said Gilas program director Tab Baldwin, “when he came in and selected a lot of his players rather than trying to look at the country of basketball and saying, ‘What is the all-star team? Let’s turn that into Gilas.’ He talked more about what would be the most effective team.”
Seeing the result of Cone’s selection, Baldwin and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas followed that blueprint in assembling the 24-man talent pool for the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers.
“Certainly in the short-term, we’re trying to emulate that a little bit with the Ateneo-TNT combination of players, and then the NLEX players who are also part of the group,” Baldwin said.
The roster features former Ateneo Blue Eagles Thirdy Ravena, Isaac Go, and Matt and Mike Nieto — the core of the team that brought the last three UAAP championships to Katipunan.
Then there’s also the TNT KaTropa duo of Roger Pogoy and Troy Rosario; as well as NLEX Road Warriors star guard Kiefer Ravena, all of whom are seasoned player on the international stage.
“So, we have some cohesion there. And really, we’re just tearing a page out of coach Tim’s book,” said the world-renowned bench strategist.
“We thought that was very clever.”
With familiarity clearly among their philosophies, Baldwin and SBP decided to give the head coaching duties to TNT active consultant Mark Dickel for the Qualifiers’ first window.
Baldwin pointed out that the 43-year-old Dickel has formed some relationships among the players of TNT, NLEX, and Ateneo, which would be beneficial for the national team program.
Dickel also brings with him a wealth of experience, having played in the Olympics twice for New Zealand. He also served as the national team head coach of Albania from 2010-2011.
“So Mark being able to have the relationship he has with TNT players, with the NLEX players through our group, and with the Ateneo players through being in many of my practices… We thought that it was something that would benefit the program,” said Baldwin.
“So Mark was a great choice. We have all the confidence. He’s a very good coach, he’s proven that in the PBA. We have all the confidence in the world that we’ll go into the FIBA windows well-prepared. And that’s the coach’s job — to get the team well-prepared.”
