Gilas Pilipinas is coming off a sensational 6-0 sweep of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers just a week ago.
Of course, the young national team, which has an average age of 22 years old, is still on a high coming off that tournament that included a couple of wins against the country’s archnemesis in South Korea.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin though always reminds his boys that that victory had already passed and that it is just part of a long and arduous journey that will culminate two years from now.
Yes, in this new Gilas, it’s always about the next day.
Photo from FIBA Asia Cup
“Well, very interesting how we do that task,” Baldwin told SMART Sports’ Hoops Life, referring to the upcoming 2021 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia. “I had a very long talk with the team last night about our culture and how we aren’t even close to establishing the culture that we want to have in this program and this team.
“That’s how you do what we are asking. If you are asking to live in the moment and enjoy the successes, we will probably still be partying. But we are trying to make a culture that revolves around that is yes, living in the moment but that moment passes and you can celebrate a victory. I tell the players all the time that the best feeling in sports is a victorious dugout. By far, the best thing! But once you get out of that dugout, it’s about the next victorious dugout through the process that you are trying to apply,” the well-traveled tactician continued.
“For us, that’s developing the culture, that thinking so that as soon as that night is over, we are on to the next job. We don’t live in the accolades of yesterday. We try to live in the challenges of today.”
Having the feeling of a “victorious dugout” though will be hard for Gilas come the OQT.
They will be facing a veteran-laden squad in world no. 5 Serbia on July 1 followed by a powerful world no. 19 team in the Dominican Republic. If by some stroke of luck Gilas advances to the next round, waiting for them are either no. 10 Italy or no. 18 Puerto Rico.
Of course, Baldwin would love to have Gilas compete in the Olympics. But at this stage in the life of this Gilas team, it is just a dream.
“That only thing that is a victorious dugout is what is on the scoreboard. From an analytical standpoint, the coaching staff can be very pleased in defeat with the way that we played. But that’s analysis.
“The emotion is tied to winning or losing the game and we are not that different from fans. We just try not to let the euphoria linger. We try to move on,” he continued.
Facing teams in the caliber of Serbia and the Dominican Republic does not come every day, especially for Asian-level teams.
So what will be Baldwin’s measure of success for this team after a week in Belgrade? Well, it’s all about proper execution and giving Serbia and the Dominican Republic a game.
“I just want to see that the hard work we have done is being applied to excellent basketball teams. It’s one thing to see your hard work come to fruition against Asian level teams and we were very happy with that,” he explained.
“We know that this is a whole different level with a set of challenges when you play top 10 nations in the world. It’s really going to be something to highlight those areas that we have to significantly improve on. Our players and our coaches need that at this point. We need to be students now and our teachers are the Serbian national team,” he furthered.
“But again, we need to make sure that by the end of the game, they will have felt the fact that they had a tough game. They need to feel that too.”
Baldwin wants this young team to experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows together. And after this exercise, he hopes that both the players and the coaches grow from this exercise as two years is not that long of a time.
Photo by FIBA.basketball
“We are just twenty-percent of where we want to be in 2023. We have so much more to learn. We have so much more to accomplish with regard to chemistry and cohesion. We still do not apply the basic concepts of the game that we are working hard on. In the live-action, we still have yet to apply them consistently. We don’t get everybody executing them all the time, we still have a lot of breakdowns. Our effort is excellent and our attitude is excellent,” remarked Baldwin.
“But in terms of efficiency, execution, and cohesion, we are still a long, long way away. But we are moving in the right direction.”
