Smart Gilas Team Evaluation

The Smart Gilas Philippine National Team did a great job with their last competition in the MVP Invitationals, though 'twas only 5 teams who competed ( Dongguan NT, Jordan NT, Talk 'N Text, Barangay Ginebra, and the Smart Gilas PNT ), they did very well specially in their last game against the Jordanians led by Rasheem Wright, Sam Daghlas and Zaid Abbaas.

These are my evaluation on their players and the whole team:

Chris Tiu:

Christopher John Alandy-Dy Tiu is the Captain of the team, a very good shooter and passer, very composed player. He keeps himself pretty calm in difficult situations. Coach Rajko has a deep trust with him

Mark Andy Barroca:

Mark Andy Barroca has earned the international basketball title "The Panther" because of his stealing ability against the other guards of different teams.

He is such an explosive scorer and truly an X-factor for the team. As a starter for the team, he carries a lot of responsibilities as much as Tiu does.

He is the epitome of a natural Filipino basketball player.

JV Casio:

Joseph Evans Casio is a very lethal weapon for the team.

He is very reliable as a point guard for the team, he hits those wonderful tear-drops and swishes those 3-point daggers with accuracy.

And most of all, he orchestrates the offense properly and perfectly.

Mac Baracael:

Mark Louis Baracael is a streak scorer and a hustle player.

Once he gets hot, it will spell trouble for the opposing team.

He creates a lot of mismatches in offense as well as in defense. The mismatches he creates in offense is good, he gets a lot of clear looks because he plays the 4 spot while in defense his size is a liability, but he definitely has a big heart and his hustle makes-up for his lack of size.

Japeth Aguilar:

Japeth Paul C. Aguilar is a very gifted and talented player.

He has the vertical leap that is equivalent to an NBA player but still, his skill and technique is pretty raw and unpolished. He is by the way developing slowly as I watched the SGT vs Jordan Team. He must improve his physical game and strengthen his physical and mental toughness to endure the physicality of basketball and the criticism that he gets in and out the court so that he can give his 100% in every game.

Greg Slaughter:

Gregory Slaughter is a very impressive player, the whole development in his game is like watching a caterpillar evolve into a butterfly. His height and his inside presence is import-like. With him in our team we can now fight eye to eye with our opponents.

I am expecting great things to him.

Marcio Lassiter:

Marcio Lassiter is a very reliable defensive specialist, he showed his good defense, accurate perimeter shots and sizzling 3point bombs in the MVP Invitationals. He is an exceptional player with his scoring and defense. In the rate of 1-10 I would rate him an 8.5 for the SG spot and 8 for the SF position.

Chris Lutz:

Chris Ryan Lutz is a very good shooter too. He never breaks his form ( a sign of a well trained shooter ).

He is deadly accurate in the 3point land when he's open. A very good defender and a smart player.

In the MVP Invitationals, he and Lassiter showed signs of similarity in their game ( which is a good sign, considering that both of these guys are very good players! ). I'm looking forward to see those similarities and their fiery defense again.

Dylan Ababou:

Dylan Ababou like Lassiter and Lutz is a very good shooter and defender but compared to those two players, he is slower than them. That's why Lutz and Lassiter ate the playing minutes that Ababou had in their rotation. He was sparingly used in the MVP Invitationals because those two were faster and quicker than him.

Marcus Douthit:

Macus Douthit showed a lot of heart playing against Jordan even though he has an ankle injury. He is a smart player and he passes very good. He has the height, skills and defense too. He has a pretty decent post-up game ( though I want to see him improve his face-up game and perimeter shooting ). All in all, he'll be a good import for our team.

**Sorry if I forgot to mention the other members of the team, I only posted who I believe the core players of the team are. Thank you for your understanding..

*Imagine if Kelly Williams joins the team now? and how about projecting the possibility of Douthit being naturalized so that we could get a second import for our team who can play the PF spot

( a strong and athletic 6'9-6'10 who can run the fast break and at the same time a defensive threat ). Just imagine that and think of the possibilities!

Is it too good to be true? or is it do-able?

-Deerman

Will James Yap deliver tonight against the Beermen?

All of us will have to wait in his game Friday night @ Ninoy Aquino Stadium 7:30pm, and some of us might want to watch the inauguration of president-elect Noynoy Aquino just to observe the actions of the famed couple and little Baby James. This "tsismis" truly overshadowed the inauguration of Noynoy and the death anniversary of Michael Jackson.



**Congratulations by the way to Smart Gilas winning over Jordan!!

I'll be posting my thoughts after the game!

See Ya!

-Deerman

Basketball: "Both situational and technical"

Basketball, for a lot of people is a game which you can have some fun and excitement.
Some players are highly devoted to this game which brings out their competitiveness, leadership and trust in their team mates. Some are even lucky enough to earn money while playing this game, while some just play for passion and pure love for the game.

Knowing some Semi-pro players, I learned that they really put so much of their time for conditioning and practicing their skills, considering that they are paid in every game in semi-pro leagues and for them to rely on the game for their livelihood is a tough thing to do. On the other hand, knowing such gifted players who doesn't play on these semi-pro leagues are the one's who are really better than the semi-pro guys.



[this video is an example of basketball in the streets..these are not the worst basketball court and basketball outfits(sometimes the Filipinos play barefoot or with flip-flops, I prefer barefoot on slippery courts)]

These street players who I've known and played with for years are very passionate and competitive in every game. They have different reasons why they play every game as if it's their last. One guy plays 3-5 difficult games every day so that he and his family will have supper in their table. One plays for a lunch of his own and he always says: "no win, no lunch". The other guy just plays hard because he always wants to win, he would play up to six games until he wins but if he doesn't he goes home in a bad mood. Knowing their stories and playing with them gives me lots and lots of pride and energy to win a game.

Technical basketball is a foundation of winning. It is one of the recipes for a championship in any league. A big chunk of technical basketball is needed mostly in Pro leagues, the Coaches who loves technical basketball are Phil Jackson and Mike D'Antoni.

The technicality of basketball in our country (The Philippines) comes in when the players realize that they don't have enough height or they don't have the connections to play in try-outs of schools with high standards having said that, high standard means "for rich people". These schools (High School or Collegiate) show bias in conducting try-outs for students who doesn't have the height(even though they are highly skilled), and if they have no "backers" or no connections in high places(including politicians, principal of the school, Pro players both old and new, coach's close friend, and many more influential people). These conditions restricts the players to aim high for their Pro-basketball dreams and just stick to the streets where they think they belong..

A natural thing for good players is playing situationally and not relying too much in technical instructions given by their coaches and mentors. Players like Allen Iverson and Dennis Rodman are examples of these kind of players.

I can say that the situationally lucky players in the Philippines are those street players who get discovered by a big time coach or a former player, and once they get discovered they get their selves a "backer"!

(nothing technical, all situational highlight plays! it's so much fun to watch when it's situational rather than complicated technical basketball..LOL..)

Nothing Absolute wins in basketball. In order to win, it must be a mix of technical and situational basketball. As well as in LIFE, we must able to plan technically and choose situationally.

Thank you for reading and have a technical and situational day!!

-Deerman

The Deerman has landed!

The title "Deerman" was given to me by a friend. He gave it to me to tease me, because I told him I saw a deer in the road before going to work early in the morning. Yes, it is true that I really saw a deer in the sidewalk in 5:38 in the morning... I was really surprised to see an actual deer for the first time! He was approximately 1 meter away from me and when I looked into his hazel shaped eyes I felt a connection with him/her... Well.. not really..

I saw that the deer was trying to cross the road but it was scared to do so, that's why I crossed the road my self to see if it'll cross the road too.. By the time I crossed the road, the deer didn't crossed it and the deer ran downhill real fast. I guessed I scared it. I was really sleepy at that moment I forgot to take a snapshot of it in my BlackBerry Storm, it was a bummer that I didn't have a photo of it considering it was 1 meter away from me.. Well that's life..

Moving on, I am going to make that deer an inspiration for my new title.. "The Deerman"..

After my introduction with how I got the title and with how I saw the deer, I will now introduce my self and what stuff will I lay on the table.

My name is JV, and I am a dedicated basketball fan. I have always been a really good observant in things that I am really interested in and I personally see things in a different way and a different angle. My mission is to relay that vision of mine and post my ideas in this blog. Be free to post any comments or contact me in my email address if you have any questions..

That's pretty much it. Now that my intros are done let's have fun and start the run!

-Deerman