Baldwin glad to see Gilas finding ways to compensate

MANILA, Philippines -- Despite opening the training camp with a spate of injuries and illnesses among the members of the Gilas pool, national coach Tab Baldwin is glad to see the national team “find ways to compensate” as it prepares for next month’s Fiba-Asia men’s championships in Changsa-Hunan, China.

“I think in basketball, I’ve been through those scenarios before. You find ways to compensate. And because this is an excellent group of guys to work with and there’s a lot of experience in this team, we were able to compensate maybe a little bit better than other teams,” Baldwin said, before leaving for Taiwan with the rest of the national squad on Friday afternoon.

With Gilas drawing a bye on the first day of competitions in the annual William Jones Cup on Saturday, Baldwin has an extra day to work with the team, before engaging in a backbreaking eight-game schedule in as many days.

But even if Gilas has been working together for the last three weeks, Baldwin admitted that everyone is still adjusting because of the system they are trying to run.

“The things working against us is, we’re all new with one another. We’re a new coaching staff and (the need to build on) new chemistry within the team, so it’s not gonna be perfect. But it’s got to be good enough,” he added.

Gilas went winless in three games during last week’s 2015 Four Nation Toyota Cup in Estonia.

But the American-Kiwi coach insists they can pick up positive lessons from the experience in heir brief trip in Europe, especially since Gilas players showed their will to win despite battling bigger players from the Netherlands, the host country and Iceland. 

“We did improve and more importantly, we went away from Manila and got the team together. We got some team bonding and some chemistry,” shared Baldwin, a four-time National Basketball League Coach of the Year back in New Zealand.

“From that experience (in Estonia), the players are like the fans, they wanna win. The coaches are really interested in winning the Fiba-Asia, so for us, it was very satisfying,” he added.

“I’m happy because the players were a little frustrated and disappointed. We want them hungry and competitive, and they were.”

Gilas kicks off its Jones Cup campaign against Chinese Taipei-A on Sunday, 9 p.m. in a match where the Filipinos will try to avenge their 84-79 defeat during the 2013 Fiba-Asia men’s championships in Manila.