Smart Gilas review – 2012 FIBA-Asia Cup (1st of 2 parts)
After ending the tournament on a 2 game losing streak and finishing at the same spot the last time we were here a couple of years ago when the original rendition of Gilas played minus Douthit and Lutz, a lot of people might be quick to push the panic button and say that this team is doomed to fail. I’m writing this just a couple of minutes after Qatar beat us and the entire Gilas team (coaches and players alike) are getting beat up in a lot of forums already (I’m sure no one’s really surprised).
I don’t really share their sentiments. As a matter of fact, I’m very optimistic about our chances to win the Gold in the next FIBA Asia Championships. Yes, you read it right… GOLD! Am I delusional? Perhaps, but after watching all the games of Gilas II, I’d like to point out what I think we should re-enforce and what we can do better.
What GILAS did well
The Dribble Drive Motion offense that Coach Chot is running has very simple principles. At the same time, it takes a lot of time for the players to get used to the reads because it won’t come as natural to the other players especially if they came from a team that runs a lot of set plays and quick hitters every time down the floor (which is like 80% of PBA teams).
I’d like to highlight who did a good job based on their positions. By the way, my measure of success might be very different to some people because I’m looking at how players performed based on the framework of the offense and not really how many points they scored.
First, the perimeter guys that play the corners (Chan, David, Foncier and JR Reyes) needs to be extremely patient because there will be times that they won’t even touch the ball depending on what the defense gives them. It’s a hard sell for someone like Gary David that’s used to taking half his team’s shots. But the guys’ attitude and willingness to learn was very evident.
Their roles are to spread the floor for the penetrators by being ready to shoot and to rise up to get the ball for a drive or a 3 pointer once the penetrator reaches the area right below the foul line. When they were doing it right the guys were unstoppable because the defense will be in a bad spot no matter what defensive philosophy you’ll follow (stay with the corner guy or fake trap).
Fonacier did an excellent job and both Chan and David showed a lot of progress (we all know they can shoot the lights out on any given night).
Second, the guys that plays from the top of the key or penetrators (Tenorio, Norwood, Dillinger, De Ocampo and Rosser). Out of the bunch, I’m not surprised that Dillinger and De Ocampo had the most success due to the fact that they play for TNT. Norwood, who is being utilized by Coach Yeng in a slightly similar not so attacking way but more of a facilitator role in ROS was also very effective.
What I’m surprised about is how well Tenorio ran the team in stretches. I expected him to struggle because he likes to dominate the ball and look for gaps himself by either running around a high screen or by attacking and crossing over twice do a hesitation or head and shoulder fake. All those things are good and it’s what made him a star in the PBA but if you do it constantly in this offense, you are setting yourself and your teammates up to fail. The other 4 guys will base their reactions by reading your actions so messing around with the ball and criss-crossing would mess up the spacing.
LA’s still a work in progress but he adjusted really fast and he saved us on a couple of occasions which is an indication that he can be very potent in this offense.
Rosser, in very limited minutes showed a very good grasp of the offense and reads the defense really well. If he gets cut off on his way to the rim, he reverse pivots and kicks the ball back very well only Norwood and the TNT guys does it slightly better.
Lastly, there are the centers (Marcus, Thoss and Villanueva). Everyone knows that Marcus is the main guy of Coach Rajko’s Gilas so he’ll dominate the ball just as much, right? Not really, because unlike last year when we went to Marcus on the post a lot (which required him to be on the strong side most of the time), in the DDM offense the center almost exclusively needs to stay opposite the ball to give the penetrator ample space. Something totally different from what he’s used to and I expected him to struggle a little bit but he was very disciplined and displayed a very high hoops IQ that just makes me very confident we’ll do extremely well.
In limited minutes, Enrico actually showed all of us why Coach Chot picked him. Against Iran, he played off the ball and constantly found gaps whenever the penetrator would force the help defender to commit. He scored on several occasions against the much bigger Khardoust and had he been as tall as Thoss, he’ll be a shoo-in for sure.
Defensive intensity and versatility
I’ll talk about the overall defense on my next post but there are 5 players that really stood out for me.
- Marcus Douthit – Outside the Iran game, Marcus was not only a solid one on one post defender but he was an excellent weak side shot blocker as well. He also did a good job showing and blitzing during pick and roll situations.
- Gabe Norwood – very long and excellent position defender. Can guard players from 1 to 3 and some 4’s to an extent. Scottie Pippen and Eddie Jones like. Plays the passing lanes well.
- Jared Dillinger – well…. Please see Norwood J
- LA Tenorio – placed himself in a bad position by going for the strip a few times but is a pesky on the ball defender.
- Matt Rosser – played very limited minutes but has similar style and approach to Gabe and Jared. Should be very valuable to the team soon.
Outlook
In my opinion, Coach Chot showed everyone that this offense is very capable of negating any size or speed advantage that the other teams have over us whenever our players run the offense the way it’s supposed to.
It takes months of practice and drills to embed all the read and reactions of this offense in our players’ minds and we already gave the other teams a tough time this early. Knowing how good and committed our coaching staff and players are we‘ll be at least twice as good as we are now in a month or so.
Tomorrow, I’ll talk about the things that we can do differently to get to the level we need to be in come 2013.
For now, let’s support and pray for the entire GILAS team for their continuous improvement and good health. MABUHAY ANG PILIPINAS!!!!
Theprodigy7's Blog 