Tab targets early March for camp

MANILA, Philippines - National basketball team coach Tab Baldwin said yesterday that while nothing is set in stone, he’d like to call his first practice in early March for the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) Championships in April and the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in June.

Baldwin and Gilas assistant coach Jimmy Alapag met with SBP executive director Sonny Barrios, SBP deputy executive director for international affairs Butch Antonio and Smart Sports senior project specialist Yvette Ruiz to discuss timetables at the SBP office in Pasig last Friday.

Recapping what was discussed, Baldwin said, “the only real substantive things were establishing some timetables for training for the SEABA tourney and there will be some pronouncements coming out next week but nothing on player selection yet.”

Baldwin said PBA players will be excluded from the pool for the SEABA Championships and SEA Games. “The PBA will still be in season so the pool will consist of players from the PBA D-League and colleges,” he said. “Obviously, this will be preceded by discussions with the D-League franchise owners. We’ll need to lay down the terms of engagement.”

Barrios said the team that will compete at the SEABA Championships may likely be retained for the SEA Games although he’s not ruling out a few tweaks along the way. He cited a similar experience with Gilas where the roster at the FIBA World Cup in Spain underwent a slight adjustment at the Asian Games in Incheon with Marcus Douthit replacing Andray Blatche and Jared Dillinger subbing for Jayson Castro. Both the SEABA Championships and SEA Games will be staged in Singapore.

Baldwin said he hasn’t named his coaching staff for SEABA and the SEA Games. Only Alapag has been announced as an assistant with the Gilas squad that expects to play at the FIBA Asia Championships in China on Sept. 23-Oct. 3 after qualifying out of the SEABA tournament. Baldwin said he hopes to tap “multiple” assistants in the different competitions to keep the coaching environment moving forward.

Baldwin said he’s excited about coaching in the three competitions. “When I got the job, I wanted to be involved in everything that had to do with representing the country in basketball,” he said. “I haven’t coached a team since last July so I thought I need to get back on the saddle. It’s a great opportunity to get going first with SEABA then the SEA Games and finally, the FIBA Asia Championships.”

Barrios said it’s about being in game shape. “We talk about players who need to be in game shape,” he said. “It’s the same thing with coaches. Tab hasn’t been a head coach for about seven months so it’s a perfect situation for him to gain experience with the national team at SEABA and the Asian Games before the Olympic qualifier.”

Baldwin said the only shoo-in for the national team at SEABA and the SEA Games is Douthit. “Right now, Marcus is our only option as a naturalized player,” he said. “If he’s healthy, we want Marcus to lead our team at the SEABA and SEA Games.”

Players who should be in contention for a spot on the national team bound for the SEABA Championships and the SEA Games include Bobby Ray Parks, Garvo Lanete, Kiefer Ravena, Troy Rosario, Mac Belo, Norbert Torres, Jolo Mendoza, Kevin Ferrer and Roi Sumang.

In 10 stagings of the SEABA Championships since 1994, the Philippines has won six crowns. The national team did not participate in 2005 because of the FIBA suspension and in 2013 because of its outright qualification to the FIBA Asia Championships as host country. The Philippines sent an U22 team in the 1996, 1998 and 2003 editions.

At the SEA Games, the Philippines has captured the gold medal in 16 of 17 basketball competitions with the only exception in 1989 when Malaysia won in Kuala Lumpur. Joseph Uichico was the coach of the national team that won the last title in 2013. Uichico’s players were Kevin Alas, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Ronald Pascual, Parks, Jericho Cruz, Jake Pascual, Belo, Douthit, Sumang, Lanete, Ferrer and Ravena.