Many questions have arisen since Monday evening.
On that fateful night, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas announced that Tab Baldwin had “stepped down” from his role as Gilas Pilipinas head coach and program director. Following this, Chot Reyes took up the position.
The top decision-maker of the SBP Manny V. Pangilinan broke his silence regarding the matter on Friday evening, recounting what happened prior.
For a short span from November to December 18, Gilas had been holding individual workouts at the Moro Lorenzo Gym. The holiday break put a halt to it, however.
Baldwin then had a family emergency in the States early in the month. He returned home to Florida.
“Over the holidays, Tab was in the States, in Florida, because his brother was sick. So he had to be with him for that reason,” recalled Pangilinan on The Chiefs.
The then-Gilas program director continued to work in the States, attending clinics of North American Basketball Association as he identified potential prospects there.
Photo from NABA
Baldwin returned to the country on the second week of January.
With just a month and a half before the first window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Pangilinan called Baldwin with regards to his plans for it.
“When he got back sometime in middle to late January, we have been talking with him about when does Ateneo will start to train and we’re working out the details,” Pangilinan shared.
“Of course with Tab, we started to talk about Gilas because if you recall, the Basketball World Cup is scheduled to be held here in August next year. So we only have about 18 months or so,” he continued.
“I was quizzing him about what preparations are we making in respect of forming the team and suggested to him that maybe we should work back an ideal pool of players that could be candidates for the 2023 team and work back to say February or March — that had been the discussion with him and it happened over the course of two to three weeks.”
The SBP was also facing problems of its own during that time.
The National Capital Region had been placed under Alert Level 3. The only way national teams can train will be under a full bubble modality.
On January 21, the 2019 PBA Gilas draftees, namely Isaac Go, Matt and Mike Nieto, Rey Suerte, and Allyn Bulanadi, also told the SBP about their intention to begin their professional basketball careers.
With some of the pool members already plying their trade in Japan or in Taiwan, the original draftees about to leave, and the UAAP starting its bubble training, there were no bodies left for the first window pool.
During one of their conversations, Baldwin told Pangilinan that it might be better for him to step aside for the first window and recommended Chot Reyes to be the head coach. It’s the practice Gilas had done during the first two windows of the Asia Cup Qualifiers that saw Mark Dickel coach the game in Jakarta while Jong Uichico guide the team in Manama. Baldwin took charge for the Clark window and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament-Belgrade.
Photo by FIBA.basketball
“He called me one weekend and said, this is my recollection, that he said that on reflection, it might be good for him to stay with Ateneo, and for SBP to nominate a coach for Gilas.
“He said that he would help and that’s when the name of Chot was brought up. Right after that, I spoke with the folks over at SBP, Al Panlilio and Ricky Vargas, and said that there is a new development here,” said Pangilinan, still surprised at what happened. “We need to talk whether you guys are agreeable to Chot returning as head coach for that. That’s the genesis of this development. I know nakukulayan yung mga comments but that’s the knob of what is happening.”
Everything happened so fast then.
Pangilinan called Reyes on Saturday, asking for a meeting on Sunday. Two days later, Reyes was named as the full-time head coach of Gilas.
Though controversial is the decision to remove Baldwin not just for this window but for the build-up to the 2023 World Cup, Pangilinan seeks understanding.
After all, the program had been stagnant since the King’s Cup in Jordan last July.
“I think there is some truth to that kasi dalawang taon walang nangyari hindi ba? E kasi kung if we start the blame game, hindi ba kasama rin siya run? COVID, that’s the reason pero walang nag-iisip [ng plano],” he said.
“Everybody’s to blame, including me, kasi wala kaming ginawa over at least one year. We have to start all over again.”
Pressure though will be on the shoulders of Reyes this time around.
With the World Cup just 18 months away, the responsibility of continuing what’s left of Baldwin’s program while integrating it to the Philippine Basketball Association rests on his shoulders.
“We have to start all over again.
“We have to scramble and part of the process is getting players trained for the competition,” he said. “The advantage of having Chot, if I may say that, he’ll probably use the core players of TNT to reinforce the Gilas team that will compete in the February window, which is about three weeks away.
“We will have to deploy easily accessible PBA players. Maybe hopefully the San Miguel group would help and we can have a combination of the best of what Tab had in the past and what the PBA players could lend to us,” he closed.
