T Minus 50 Days: I Can Help!

Although... what kind of help does Gilas needs that will give them a surefire shot at the Gold in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship... with only 50 days to go?

As of this day, my fearless forecast is that we don't have a shot at anything... we may not even make it to the knockout round... hell, we might not even make it to the second round. We will lose to India!

More hell... we still don't have a team right now!

Players are backing down one by one that it may come to a point that we'll be sending an all-bench team come the Asian Championships. Imagine Jerwin Gaco in a white and blue Nike Gilas jersey. That would be awesome, right?

From the various reasons players have given; from an injured foot to an injured finger; from a US trip to a European trip to wherever in the world Marcio Lassiter is going; from a questioned release by his pro-ball team (when is Andray Blatche set to arrive? UPDATE: Andray Blatche is here!) to a question of eligibility (still can't believe Greg Slaughter wasn't a part of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship line-up... but really, are we gonna place Greg in there right now???). The most valid reason that probably covers the entire excuses of the others who begged off from the pool... the mother of all reasons belonged to LA Tenorio.

He said he is way out of form to join the team since he has been playing non-stop since 2012. He'll be off-form for the national team, and he'll be off-form for a Coach Tim Cone-led Barangay Ginebra. He's probably too tired of hearing fans blame him for the miseries of Ginebra (which I really, truly, disagree... seriously!) that's why begging off was a major consideration.

But what is LA Tenorio talking about? Just look at this list...

*Iran - October / November / December to April / May / June
*Japan - October to May
*South Korea - October to April
*Jordan - February to April
*China - November to March
*Philippines - October to July

These are the schedules of the professional leagues of some of our big opponents come the Asian Championships.

Let me repeat that one for the PBA... October to July.

The NBA has their season from November to June and they are even planning it to cut the season much shorter. While the PBA... October to July... and teams are playing two to three games a week... aba matinde!

No wonder players will be too weary or too tired to play some more for the National cause. Let's face it, they're only humans. We can say everytime "para sa bayan naman ito e..." or "Yung ibang tao dyan willing na willing maglaro para sa bandila, pero kayo binibigyan ng pagkakataon umaayaw pa kayo?" but at the end of the day they can only do so much. Even though their heart are still flaming for the desire to play for flag, their body can only take so much. They are tired. LA was right.

And who is the one to blame?

I'd rather not blame. I made this entry to be a part of the solution and not the problem. Look at the title... I can help! I will help the national team program! I will offer a solution that will avoid these kind of circumstances. And these circumstances such as plantar fasciitis, emergency trip to Europe, wear and tear, came from one problem... this crazy ass schedule!

So if I was the Lee Kuan Yew or Admiral General Aladeen of Philippine basketball, here's what I would do...

Let's switch back the two-conference format!

A Noli Eala-inspired two-conference format; one for All-Filipino and one import-laden conference.

Both conference will bear the same tournament format;

1. 16 games per elimination round. No play-off games whatsoever in case of ties. That makes it a minimum of 32 games per season each team. Blackwater played 33 games this 2014-15 season.

2. Playoffs will be in a 3-7-7 format; Quarters at best-of-three, Semis and Finals at best-of-seven. In this way, series would be longer (which more fans crave for, including me) specially for rival teams such as Ginebra and Purefoods or Talk 'n Text and San Miguel or Rain or Shine and whoever they're up against. You know that teams will give quality series no matter who are they (remember 2011 Philippine Cup Powerade Tigers?) and who are they against (remember 2011 Philippine Cup B-Meg Llamados?). A maximum of 17 games will be played by a team, making it 34 if they make it deep in both conferences. A maximum of 67 games every year. Rain or Shine played 63 games this year.

And another thing... the reason they switched back to a three-conference format is because of the profitability of the play-off games. So here we are! Reduce the number of conferences and increase the games of the play-offs. We can even make the Quarterfinals a best-of-five and the maximum number of games will be at 71. Rain or Shine could have played 80 games this year.

3. The Asian Imports was a thing of beauty. It was the best idea... ever! It's just so unfortunate that other teams chose not to utilize it and one team misutilized their Asian Import (Hello Sanchir!). Who would've thought that Japanese fans will drive into Araneta Coliseum with banners cheering for their player in a Philippine basketball stage? The purpose was met! Bring in some foreign fans! Mission accomplished! Seiya Ando brought in some fans. Michel Madanly brought in his family and thinks of settling here. The possibilities are endless, and if the office guys in the PBA are worrying about profit, this is the solution! Bring in some Asian imports to bring in some Asian fans! Voila! Just imagine if only Kim Kang Kong... ESTE I mean, Kim Ji Wan (hindi ko sinasadya Ginebra fans... hindi ko sinasadya.) was brought in earlier... then the wings of the news will fly and three or four games later the Koreans that you see everywhere in this country are in Araneta Coliseum watching their very own fellow play basketball. Awesome!

But the problem was last time, the height restriction for the imports was so low. That's why teams like Rain or Shine and Alaska chose not to use Asian imports because they do not need another guard. To solve that problem and to not totally erase the presence of the totally foreign imports...

*13 feet combined height limit for imports of the upper eight teams of the Philippine Cup.
*13 feet and 6 inches combined height limit for imports of the lower four teams of the Philippine Cup.
*When hiring two imports, one import should be an Asian import

If a team is still uninterested to hire an Asian import, they can utilize that height limit solely for a seven-foot foreign import.

Get this. A team can hire a 7-footer foreigner and a 6'6" guard/forward Asian import, or vice-versa. Blackwater can hire Hamed Haddadi and AZ Reid if they belong to the bottom four of the Philippine Cup. Or if Ginebra belonged to the upper eight of the Philippine Cup, they can hire Fadi El-Khatib and Marqus Blakely. The possibilities are endless! Just the thought of it is making me drool in my laptop.

So... combining all of this starting next season...

*The elimination will have a total of 96 games (if my math is correct). If a minimum of 9 games is played every week, in 10 weeks the elimination is over.
*If playoffs will be played every other day, a maximum of 5 weeks will be consumed.
*Multiply it for two conferences. 30 weeks.
*Throw in 2 weeks of mid-season break, or for All-Star event. 32 weeks.

That is 20 weeks of rest and preparation for international competitions. Four to five months of rest and preparation for overseas battle. 140 days of everything you need to do instead of 50. This without compromising the financial needs of the professional league.

See... I can help!


---

Follow the writer on Twitter and Instagram: sportscastengr

T minus 87 Days: The 2015 FIBA Asia Championship

After that historic win against Senegal, what's next? Are we forever qualified with all the major international basketball competitions?

That's what I wish, but two things crossed my thoughts; one, on basketball #WalangForever, and two, we're just getting started. It's hard to get on top, but it's harder to stay on top.

It's a nice feeling that in Asia, this little proud country of ours are now considered as a powerhouse in the game of basketball. Other countries are now wary of the talents the Filipinos have in basketball. We were the prey before but now we are the predators. We were the dark horses before, but now we are legitimate contenders. Validated by our mighty showing in the 2014 FIBA World Cup. Iran was lucky to have Egypt on their group while South Korea didn't win a thing. Gilas, meanwhile, ate Croatia's brain, managed to give the Greeks a kick in the balls, gave Argentina a heart attack, made Puerto Rico walk in their knees, and finally destroyed Senegal before leaving Spain.

That was a nice trip back down to memory lane.

But it's 2015 already. Where are we now?

Last night's draw reminded us how "lucky" we are right now. That "lucky" is short for very, very, very, very, very, very, very lucky. That one "very" represents the fact that Gilas will have a field day on it's road to the quarterfinals. They have a very large margin of error to work on to when it comes to get the feel of the entire tournament, get their groove, and come out in the most important matches down the road as the powerhouse everyone expected them to be.

The multiple "very" represents the fact that Gilas doesn't have a team yet.

So to combine everything, this is what the statement would look like...

"They have a very large margin of error to work on to when it comes to get the feel of the entire tournament, get their groove, and come out in the most important matches down the road as the powerhouse everyone expected them to be, even though Gilas doesn't even have a pool of players yet."

Aren't you alarmed by this?

Imagine if we had Lebanon, Qatar, and Kazakhstan in Group B, just switching teams from Group D... at this rate, we might even say goodbye in the first round. The Kazakhs are playing with the Europeans, the core of the Lebanese team has been there for a decade and seemingly hasn't lost a beat up to now, and the man-eating monsters of Qatar. 87 days to go and we don't have a team yet. Who will we send to face them, the Blackwater Elite?

That's why we are very, very, very, very, very, very, very lucky. The darkhorses will kill each other up until the second round. Which leads me to my projections.

Group A has Iran, Japan, Malaysia, and the South Asian qualifier which we will know by next weekend. As of this day, Japan has the spotlight of this group because the country is still suspended by FIBA. However, the Japanese Basketball Association were allowed to resume international basketball activities, including this upcoming Asian Championships. News has it that the suspension will be lifted by August. With Japan getting their shit together, I guess it's time for us to say goodbye to the basketball league that has the most awesome name in the planet... the BJ-League.

Group B has Philippines, Kuwait, Palestine, and the winner between Hong Kong and Mongolia. I will put my money on Mongolia, so Gilas and all of the Gilas fans can say hello once again to their favorite Asian import, SANCHIR!!!

Group C has South Korea, China, Jordan, and Singapore. South Korea might be bringing a new naturalized player this year, while China must be past the middle phase of their rebuilding process. This is Jordan's third year with Rajko Toroman. And Singapore, welcome to the "Group Of Death".

Group D has Taiwan, Qatar, Lebanon, and Kazakhstan. This is the most even and most exciting group FIBA Asia has made in the history of FIBA Asia. All four teams are equally matched and equally capable to advance in the quarterfinals. Darkhorses are put together in one group. How do you like that?

But with my first projections at T minus 87 days, I had Taiwan being eliminated in the first round. Taiwan doesn't have a good history with Middle East teams. China will beat Korea in the preliminaries owing to the experience gained by the young players of China (Guo Ailun, Zuo Pheng, Wang Zhelin), Yi Jianlian joining the party, and the avoidance of fielding old men in the national team and those young guys will just go to that old man and watch them do his thing. Hello Wang Zhizhi!

Iran and Philippines are expected to past through the quarterfinals easily, with Iran beating Gilas in the second round by a margin of 43 points. Come on! Those Iranians have been playing together for 10 years and they'll face a team that was made in 10 weeks. What are we, NBA Players?

That's why in my current projections, Gilas will reach as far as the semifinals but ultimately bowing out to the Koreans in the 3rd place match. We'll get beat by the Koreans not because of the curse, but with just the absence of preparation that we have now. We won't even play in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament next year.

Iran will be winning it all once again, but my further, farther projection says this will be the last championship that this core of Haddadi, Bahrami, and Kamrani will win. They won't win the 2017 FIBA Asia Championship.

A lot of things can happen in 87 days. My projections are guaranteed to change. But for Gilas, there is not a lot of preparation that they can do in those 87 days.

"Amat Victoria Curam. Victory Loves Preparation." - Harry McKenna's Gun, The Mechanic, 2011

---

Follow the writer on Twitter and Instagram: @sportscastengr