Analysis: Another Gilas Debacle, Another Failure of Accountability

From a championship run at the Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago that ended a 60-year gold-medal drought to a ninth-place finish at this year’s Aichi-Nagoya Asiad, the Philippines went from its historic high to its worst performance in Asian Games history. 

From two impressive triumphs against Jordan and Iran in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in late August to a 44-point loss to China at the Aichi International Arena on September 14 that ended the national team’s Asian Games campaign. 

That is how low Gilas Pilipinas has sunk in just a short amount of time. 

The fans, expectedly, are aghast. After all, this is basketball, the most popular sport in the country and our national pastime.  

It is not the idea of being defeated that has Filipinos losing it online and on various social media platforms. Gilas Pilipinas has had its fair share of losses in the Asiad, in the SEA Games, and in FIBA competitions. What people find infuriating is seemingly losing the gold by default by fielding a hastily-assembled squad.  

“We brought some really good players, but we didn’t bring our best players,” Tim Cone was quoted as saying after the pummeling that Gilas Pilipinas received from China. It took them post-mortem to realize that.  

It is not the fault of the players who made up this latest iteration of Gilas Pilipinas that they could not deliver. The effort was obviously there. But with their lack of size and preparation plus the absence of a naturalized player to help carry the offensive load, the odds were stacked heavily against them. 

Fans want answers, but the explanations given not only sound like flimsy excuses, they also defy common sense to the point of insulting the intelligence of the average, reasonable Filipino basketball fan. 

It would have been more acceptable if they said the Gilas players were unavailable due to their club commitments. These things happen, especially during non-FIBA windows. The reason given for the formation of a totally different squad for the Asian Games, however, is that they wanted a fresh team that was not exhausted from the FIBA qualifiers. They said this decision stemmed from the lesson learned in 2014 when the Gilas Pilipinas team coming from the World Cup went straight to the Incheon Asiad and ended up in 7th place. 

Let us dissect this explanation. 

First, Gilas Pilipinas played five games in the 2014 World Cup in Spain and numerous tune-up games, including a pocket tournament, before they flew to Incheon. The current Gilas squad saw action just twice last August, both of which were home games. 

Second, a closer look at the other teams in the Asian Games which also played in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers will reveal that almost all have practically the same roster. Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar have 11 players who played in August. South Korea has 10, while China has 9. Iran brought back 9 and Jordan paraded 8 returnees.  

Only Japan revamped its lineup, retaining two but bringing in a different naturalized player, which brings us to another question that needs to be asked. 

One thing that puzzles fans is the overreliance on Justin Brownlee who up until a week before the Asiad was said to still be a possible last-minute addition. 

But there were other options on the table.

Both Kouame and Diouf would have been allowed to play together in Aichi, and they would have provided the ceiling that was so badly missing in the Gilas squad. Kouama reportedly left to play abroad since there were no clear plans laid out for him in the national team. Diouf is said to have been naturalized for the Gilas 3x3 program. The 3x3 competition in the Asian Games is for players 23 and under, making Diouf ineligible but available for 5 on 5. 

Whether this failure of monumental proportions is a result of a lack of foresight or bad planning by those behind the national team program will be a discussion that will eventually die down, with no one being held accountable for the result. This has happened numerous times in the past.  

Shooting at the opposing team’s basket in the 2014 Asian Games.  

Dropping all 5 games by an average of 29.4 points in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.  

Losing the 2021 SEA Games gold to Indonesia.  

All these episodes caused major embarrassment and grief in a country with such a deep love for basketball, but only the fans seemed to feel the shame. In Philippine basketball, it sometimes appears that the stakeholders and those who wield power in the sport could not care less about what the fans say. 

And so the fans will just be made to wait until the next FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifying window this November. Those running the show know that if Gilas Pilipinas win their next two games, the sins from the Asian Games will be forgiven and their incompetence will be forgotten. 

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