May 19, 2016
Countdown to Manila OQT: 47 days
After taking two weeks off, Gilas Pilipinas returned to practice on Wednesday at the Meralco Gym and welcomed its newest member, Ray Parks.
Parks has been in Manila for a few days now, training with a personal trainer before joining the senior men’s national basketball team for the first time.
The former two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player, who suited up for the Texas Legends in the NBA D-League, said he wants to bring what he’s learned abroad to the Gilas practices.
“It was great. There was a lot of ups and downs. I am able to play at that level and at the same time learn the ins and outs of basketball,” Parks said of his experience abroad.
“We have to focus on ourselves first. It is a tough schedule for sure but we have to focus on ourselves day by day.”
Even without 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Best Player of the Conference Calvin Abueva and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters’ Gilas crew of Jeff Chan, Gabe Norwood, and Paul Lee, who are all still competing in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, today’s Gilas practice looked satisfying for head coach Tab Baldwin, and he expects the team to become even better.
“We did a lot of teaching today. It’s good. We planned to do (that). We have a lot of stuff covered and these group of players will help us teach the rest of the players,” Baldwin said.
“It is an imperfect system but it is an imperfect world we live in. The guys did a good job. They will grow in intensity and practices will get better and better.
“They just have to get their legs back, their shooting touches back, their feel for the game back, and it will come pretty quickly because they have not been that out for long.”
Baldwin added that Gilas’ training camp will now run on most days, as the squad tries to be in even sharper form.
Asked about how he tries to manage being the head coach of both Gilas and the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, Baldwin said he looks at it as a blessing, and sees no problem handling both sides.
Tab Baldwin is also the head coach of the Ateneo Blue Eagles (Richard Esguerra)
“I manage my time. I try to do it professionally and I don’t think I have a problem with that. A lot of people live with multiple responsibilities,” he said.
“It can be managed well and I am blessed in the fact coaching is coaching, whether it’s Ateneo or Gilas. But now, my time is centered on Gilas. My time and attention is on Gilas now.”
