Originally Posted by
JAMSKIE
Jordan coach: RP can be great again
June 25, 2010 By JONAS TERRADO
Jordan national team coach Mario Palma believes the Philippines can be a powerhouse team in Asia if it plays the right way - no fancy moves and play tough and honest defense.
Palma, a Portuguese national who guided the Jordanese to their first-ever stint in the FIBA World Championship in Turkey this August, thinks that with Rajko Toroman coaching the Smart Gilas-RP team, the culture of Philippine basketball is in for a big change.
"I haven't coach against this team (Smart-Gilas) but I heard it's a pretty good team," said Palma.
"I don't know about the team but I have an idea about how coach Rajko is doing with this squad."
This marks the first time that Palma will be playing against the Smart-Gilas team although he's no longer stranger to the Filipinos' brand of play, having played against the PBA-backed RP team in 2007 and 2007.
Jordan won in both occasions that undermined its status as one of the fast emerging powers in Asia.
Palma acknowledges the country's very rich crop of talent but said the Philippines can't achieve its goal playing back in the Olympics if the Filipinos won't play as a team. "You see, basketball is a team game. Offense sells tickets but defense wins games," said Palma.
"The Philippines can be great in the world but for what I see, if they (Filipinos) play for spectators and not play to win games, it will be very difficult. When you go to international tournament and you have only talent then it will be difficult for the since other teams have also talent but more effort."
"I think the Philippines has very much talent than us but they lost to us (Jordan). Why Because we are better organized in terms of defense. It's a team game," he added.
"They are really good, they have talented players but in the end, you cannot win like this in my opinion and coach Rajko will change this. So I think it's a very different team it will not be the same team that I saw before." he added.
Barangay Ginebra team manager Samboy Lim, who was one of the key components of the fabled Northern Consolidated squad of American mentor Ron Jacobs, agreed with Palma, saying during their time, they also prepared for two to three years before they realized their talent as a team.
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What do U think Mario Palma was trying to drive-out in making those statements? Wasn't Palma trying to tell us that Philippine basketball's free-wheeling & individualistic style of game would never work in international competitions and that certain changes as far as our approach of the game must be made?
When Rajko Toroman was hired as head coach of Smart Gilas program, among the objectives of the program was to teach the Filipino players how to play the international style of basketball. Like Palma, Toroman believes that Filipino players have the individual talent & that Philippine basketball has a greater depth of talent than most countries in Asia. Toroman however believed that Filipinos lacked the "tactical skills" essential in the international game. It is for this reason that the Smart Gilas program was founded - to teach & train our promising amateur cagers the techniques & tactics of the international game. It is for this reason why Toroman believed that the amateur players of Gilas, as young & raw as they were, will be more competitive than the more talented & more matured PBA-select national teams. While amateur players were inferior than their PBA counterparts in terms of individual talent, learning the techniques & tactics of the international game from a veteran international coach, combined w/ cohesion & the experience playing in international meets will more than compensate for whatever deficiencies in individual talents & maturity these amateurs had.
With the Gilas program, Toroman has put emphasis on passing, team defense, ball movement & movement w/o the ball & playing under a structured system. Players were made to realize that superiority in individual talent & line-up depth don't count in international basketball as much as teamwork & cohesion do.
In terms of individual talent, Smart Gilas cagers (w/ the exception of Marcus Douthit), were no match against their PBA counterparts. PBA superstars are obviously more refined, more polished, & more matured compared to the amateur cagers of Gilas. Chris Tiu would be no match going one on one w/ James Yap or Mark Caguioa. Jimmy Alapag will easily outsmart Jayvee Casio. Kerby Raymundo, be4 he got injured, would easily outplay a Mac Barracael. Yet facts will tell us that Smart Gilas team fared better in international tournaments than the PBA-select national teams in 2007 & 2009.
Toroman was in the process of revolutionizing Philippine basketball - transforming it from an individualistic free-wheeling style to a teamwork oriented & structured system concept. It was unfortunate that Toroman had to go & be replaced by a PBA coach. Just when our players were starting to master the international game through a foreign coach, we kicked that foreign coach's ass & replaced him w/ a PBA coach whose basketball orientation isn't really geared towards the international game. It seems to me, we are going in circles instead of making some progress.
Let's take those words from a proven "winner" like Mario Palma who knows his basketball much better than anyone of us in this forum. We have to remember, those words were coming from a "neutral" individual. I wonder what Palma would be saying if informed that Smart Gilas under Toroman finished 4th in last year's FIBA-Asia, yet we kicked Torman's ass & replaced him w/ a local coach simply becoz Toroman failed to accomplish his mission. Perhaps Palma would only be shaking his head as if to say "Filipinos have never learned their lessons"
Anyway, the Snow Badua factoids should establish that Smart Gilas 2 is about the development also of a very strong pre-PBA pool as it is about the PBA teams. An NLEX/Sinag selection can already easily hold its own against the best PBA teams; it even has the advantage of having energetic young players who are also less prone to injuries. A good mix of international size, athleticism, resilient youth, cool veterans and shooting power would now be possible for Smart Gilas 2 in a way that was not possible with the earlier version.
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