Gilas Pilipinas is looking to take advantage of its “hybrid” guards when it sets its redemption bid into motion in the 19th Asian Games.
Gilas assistant coach LA Tenorio has full confidence over the current crop of national team players filling the one and two spots and delivering the goods as they seek to end a 25-year Asian Games medal drought.
He particularly mentioned the big role that Scottie Thompson would play under the system of head coach Tim Cone, who steered the Filipinos to their last medal finish in Bangkok in 1998.
“What I like about our guards now is that we have defensive-minded guards like (Chris) Newsome and Scottie,” Tenorio, who last donned the national colors in 2019 to help Gilas win the Southeast Asian Games gold medal.
Tenorio, who is close to a Philippine Basketball Association comeback after revealing his bout with Stage 3 colon cancer, thought that Thompson’s defensive prowess went underutilized during his stint in the FIBA World Cup.
But this time, Tenorio expects a lot from his Barangay Ginebra teammate and former PBA Most Valuable Player under Cone’s familiar system.
“I think we didn’t maximize that (in Thompson) in this World Cup. Defensively, he will be a big help for us and of course, he can create shots for his teammates and for himself,” he added.
Last-minute changes in the lineup also added more weapons in the guard position for Gilas.
Back in the fold are Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter, Kevin Alas and World Cup veteran CJ Perez along with forward Arvin Tolentino. Their re-entry came at the heels of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee’s decision to turn down the Philippines’ request to allow Calvin Abueva, Jason Perkins, Mo Tautuaa and Terrence Romeo to play.
Gilas also lost another guard in Roger Pogoy, who had to withdraw because of undisclosed health reasons.
Still, Tenorio believes that Gilas would have an edge with their talented guards.
“It’s a different set of guards. If we’re gonna compare it from what we had then, we now have multi-talented guards,” he said.
“That’s the new breed now as we’ve seen in international competitions. Combo guards. Gone are the days of the true point guards. They are now hybrid guards who can shoot, can play point and can create for his teammates and himself.”
Gilas is in Group C along with Middle Eastern powerhouse Jordan, Bahrain and Thailand.
The Filipinos open their campaign on 26 September against Bahrain before squaring off with Thailand on the 28th and Jordan on the 30th.
