Guiao cites Gilas’ difficult problem

MANILA, Philippines — Former national coach Yeng Guiao knows what it’s like to be on the hot seat coming from a losing situation. At the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, Guiao piloted Gilas to a winless record. But Guiao said with things evolving on the international stage, believing in coach Tim Cone is crucial moving forward.

“Coach Tim has his own style and his track record of success is evident,” said Guiao on SEAG Live. “The triangle and playing a short rotation are two things he’s known for, it’s his brand. He proved what we can do by winning gold at the Asian Games. Let’s rally behind him and not be critical.”

Guiao said with a short preparation period, Gilas faces a difficult problem of playing together for every FIBA competition. “It’s why coach Tim has a compact pool,” he said. “Trending in the international game are shooting threes, playing with pace and space, scoring in transition. If your opponent plays fast, you have to play faster. It’s also about developing basketball IQ and we can do it if we continue to play together. The important thing is we keep playing teams like Australia and New Zealand to get better.”

Guiao said at the recent FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, he wasn’t disappointed by the loss to the Boomers but was “a little disappointed” losing to Chinese-Taipei. “Australia and New Zealand shouldn’t be playing in our zone,” he said. “They have a natural advantage in genetics. They should be playing in some other zone, not in Asia. It’s tough enough to beat Japan, Korea, Iran, Jordan, Chinese-Taipei, China and Lebanon but we can beat them.”

In Jeddah, Guiao said the results would’ve been different with Kai Sotto. “It’s not only talent and coaching that make a difference but also luck,” he said. “We were hit by injuries. Calvin (Oftana) and CJ (Perez) didn’t play in our last game. Justin (Brownlee) is our hero but he’s only human. Luck plays a big role, too.”