IN past versions of the Philippine national basketball team, the problems has always been height, or the lack thereof.
Not with this current Gilas Pilipinas pool.
With an average of 6-foot-7 and with a 7-2 in Kai Sotto and a 6-11 in June Mar Fajardo as the two tallest players during the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Gilas had the same height average as group-stage opponents Latvia and Georgia.
The Philippines was even taller than semifinal foe and eventual Olympic qualifier Brazil, which collectively stood at an average height of 6-foot-5 or two inches shorter than Gilas Pilipinas.
“It’s a unique time for us, right now, to have a team like this,” said Cone of the presence of tall players that can compete in the world stage. “The generational talents and right now, at this time, we have Kai at 22 and June Mar at 33, 34.
“Five years ago, Kai was 17 and wasn’t able to play with June Mar. Five years from now, June Mar will be 39, 40, and Kai will be 28. That window of the two of them going to play together is right now. This is what we have to take advantage. It’s like generational talents coming together,” said Cone.
With their big and versatile line-up during the OQT, Cone was able to use different combinations in the frontline, even playing Sotto and Fajardo together, with Sotto as the wingman, posing match-up problems for opponents.
“When we talk about big men for Gilas, we are talking about guys who are 6-10, 6-11, 7-feet,” said Cone.
With the height of the bigs in the international game, Cone said some of the centers and power forwards in the PBA would have a difficult time competing.
Cone admitted during the search for an additional player following injury woes to the team heading into the OQT, Gilas was considering a big from the PBA that would become undersized in FIBA.
Justin Arana option
“We thought about bringing Justin Arana, being one of the replacements,” Cone revealed. “But he is just too small. At 6-6, he is not going to perform as a big man at the world stage because you have to be 6-10, 6-11, 7-feet.
“A Kai can do it. June Mar can do it. Even Japeth (Aguilar) struggled a little bit by being at 6-9. AJ (Edu) can certainly do it. He showed that in the World Cup. But you bring a 6-6 guy and make him play center, he ain’t going to do it on the world stage.
Even Gilas guards should be big
A 6-foot-6 player can still play for Gilas, but has to play the wing positions.
“That’s what we have to understand – 6-foot-6, 6-foot-7 guys, unless they are wings like a Justine (Brownlee), a Jamie (Malonzo), Carl Tamayo, even Carl, he is 6-foot-8 but he can’t play a 5 at the world stage. But he can play the wing. We are looking for big guys to play for Gilas, we are really looking for big guys. We are not looking for medium-sized guys,” said Cone.
“That’s why Kai, June Mar, AJ, Japeth, they give us a chance at that level and perform. I think without them, we are always going to be a little overwhelmed,” said Cone.
The same goes with the guards after Gilas deployed Dwight Ramos, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, and CJ Perez, all of which were 6-foot-1 or taller. Cone said having a small guard would create mismatches on the defensive end.
“It’s a little bit harder playing with smaller guards. I’m a defensive coach first so this is my preference… I’m just a little bit different that I look at defensive match-ups first so I want big guards so I don’t get overwhelmed defensively, and that’s important to me to my system and the way I coach and the way I see the game.
“That’s why getting a Newsome, a Dwight Ramos (for Gilas). Scottie was like the limit. Even though he is six-feet, 6-1, he plays a lot bigger than that. His ability to get up the floor and his strength. That was basically the limit that we were looking at. CJ, because of his athleticism.
“But other guys like Matthew Wright would have been great for us. Some guys that can play guard and transition back to guard and be bigger. That’s how we saw Dwight,” said Cone.
Cone won’t rule out small guards
But while a small bigman would have a slim chance of making it to Gilas, that’s not exactly the case for the small guards as long as he can compensate on offense or other aspects of the game.
Cone cited the case of Brazil’s 5-foot-10 guard Yago Santos, who also made contributions during the semifinal game.
“I’m not ruling it out. We could easily have that especially a guy like the Brazil guard. He came off the bench. He’s like a spark for them. Came off the bench but (had) a lot of energy. All of sudden, this game speeds up and that’s something we could do. We could bring a guy, give him his moments off the bench to lift up the team.”
“I envision that. I just don’t see it at the moment,” said Cone.
