MANILA, Philippines - Don’t underestimate the opposition.
This was Smart Gilas Pilipinas coach Rajko Toroman’s advise to the national basketball team seeing action in the 26th Southeast Asian Games Nov. 11-25 in Indonesia.
“The quality of basketball in Southeast Asia has improved tremendously in the last two years,” said Toroman. “That’s why we showed respect when we played them by playing consistent.”
The Smart Gilas 5 indeed dished out its best in hammering the opposition, sweeping the SEABA tournament by an average winning of 40 points, including an 89-50 rout of the Indonesians in the finals in Jakarta over the weekend.
In the SEA Games, the Phl team will be composed of the top collegiate players and reinforced by Gilas standouts Greg Slaughter and Aldrech Ramos.
Norman Black will be the head coach.
There is also a strong possibility that Gilas captain Chris Tiu would be joining Black’s squad although this would hinge on whether or not the former Ateneo hotshot would join the PBA rookie draft in August.
“We’ll see what happens because I haven’t really decided yet,” said Tiu.
He agreed with Toroman that Southeast Asian teams, headed by Indonesia and Malaysia, should not be taken for granted.
“We really have to respect them because they’re improving everytime we played them,” said Tiu.
The Indonesians, for one, had set up plans of competing in the Jones Cup this August in Chinese Taipei, train in Australia for several weeks, see action in Wuhan to get a crack at the SEAG crown in November.