Baldwin says Abueva, Romeo have long ways to go

MANILA, Philippipnes — Although people marvel at the energy and performance of Gilas Pilipinas rookies Calvin Abueva and Terrence Romeo during the team’s last two tournaments, national coach Tab Baldwin said both players still have a lot of things to improve on, heading to the FIBA Asia men’s championships next week.

Baldwin cited Abueva’s penchant for turnovers could ‘drive him crazy’ if he’ll continue doing it in the Asian championships in Changsa-Hunan, China.

“You saw he (Abueva) didn’t get in foul trouble here (in the MVP Cup).  He’s maturing and he’s understanding the message. He’s taking the message on board,” said Baldwin.

“I love the kid. I love his enthusiasm, but he’s gonna drive me crazy with some these careless turnovers because in the elite level, it will hurt you so he’s got a lot more improve and and growth to his game,” explained the American-Kiwi coach.

The undersized Abueva was a bundle of energy as usual against the Taiwanese last Sunday, finishing with 11 points and six boards, though he and Romeo combined for six of Gilas’ 13 turnovers overall.

The Filipinos whipped the Taiwanese, 90-77 to score a three-game sweep of the Master Game Face-MVP Cup over the weekend. 

In the meantime, the 57-year-old Gilas coach believes Romeo, whom he calls a 'gunslinger', will just have to improve on the other aspects of his game to become even more effective in the Fiba-Asia men's championships.

“(Romeo’s) pretty good (in the MVP Cup), but with room for improvement because two of his primary jobs is, one organizing the defensive transition, and he will get a zero for that, then, running the team, managing the team, reading the defensive changes, and he’s below average on that,” noted Baldwin.

“But what he (Romeo) does well, is he does much better than a lot of other people and we need that. But he has to mature in those other roles and he has to understand what this team requires of him in every phase of play not just on offense,” he added.

Baldwin said the upside for the 23-year-old Romeo is that he’s learning a lot at an early stage of his professional career.

The Gilas coach hopes Romeo can follow the growth path of Jayson Castro, who he said has grown a lot since the 2013 FIBA Asia men’s championships in Manila.

“He (Romeo) can learn a lot from Jayson, who has grown a lot since I’ve seen him in 2013 with Gilas to what he is now,” he said.

“And players do go through that (growth stage) and Terrence is getting his opportunity quite young. He needs to go through that and he needs to be acutely aware of what are his weaknesses and what are his strengths and he’s got to do a better job developing those weaknesses into strength,” he added.

Gilas left for Cebu on Monday for a weeklong training camp as part of the national team’s final preparation for the FIBA Asia men’s championships in China.

The winner of the Asian men’s championships earns an automatic slot in the Rio Olympics next year.