For Tab Baldwin, coaches could build basically an “all-star team” for the national squad, given the abundance of talent available in local soil.
“You can do an all-star team,” the Gilas Pilipinas program director told Radyo 5’s Power and Play hosted Noli Eala, Saturday.
“You can take the Roger Pogoys, the CJ Perezes, the Paul Lees, the June Mar Fajardos — All of them are very productive offensive players — maybe, good defensive players in their own right,” added the American-Kiwi mentor.
“All of them are sort of the stars of the offensive game and they are the best here.”
The only naturalized Filipino Gilas has right now is Andray Blatche, a proven NBA talent who is 6-foot-11. Other candidates that have been floated around are 6-foot-5 Justin Brownlee and 6-foot-9 Chris McCollough.
The one thing all three have in common is that they are ball-dominant players.
And that very reason is why Baldwin does not see any sense of bringing in someone ball-dominant as the Nationals’ naturalized player.
It’s no secret anymore that the 62-year-old wants lots of things to improve within the Philippine basketball culture. And among those he hopes to change is how Filipinos view naturalized players for the national team.
“When everybody asks about the national team, I want them to stop for a second. I don’t think that this has always been done. I want them to think rationally,” said the former Olympic coach, who can be brutally honest at times. “So why in selecting the naturalized player would you bring in a naturalized player who will have the ball at his hands all the time?
“Why not bring in a guy who is great at rebounding, great at rim-protecting, a defensive stalwart behind these excellent players who are mediocre to good on defense? Some of them might become very good, but they are really out there because they are good at executing offenses. Why would we bring in a guy who will dominate the basketball? I don’t see any sense in that.”
That is why Baldwin believes that someone like Ange Kouame fits the bill of someone who can complement that kind of talent Gilas has.
The 6-foot-10 Ivorian student-athlete, who’s helped Ateneo rule the last two UAAP men’s cage tournaments, is soon to be granted Filipino citizenship following the Philippine Senate’s approval just recently.
He’s actually with the national team at present in their training bubble at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba preparing for a number of tournaments ahead, such as the FIBA Olympic qualifiers in Serbia in June.
“So my assembly of the pool of naturalized players are guys who are great rebounders, great locker room guys, great rim-protectors, and got a lot of energy and be great teammates,” he said.
“I think Ange Kouame fits all of that.”
