Dwight Ramos has big shoes to fill once Gilas arrives in Manama, Bahrain.
Unlike the first window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, the 6-foot-4 do-it-all forward will be the main three of the Philippines when it takes on Thailand on the 26th, Korea on the 28th, and the Thais again on the 30th.
This as Thirdy Ravena, who dropped 23 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and two blocks against Indonesia last February, will no longer be around as he is playing for San-En in the B.League.
But for last window’s interim head coach Mark Dickel, the 22-year-old Ramos will be a “huge replacement” for Ravena.
“Dwight Ramos is gonna be the real deal.
“He’s like quite unassuming, he’s quite a little bit bigger, he can kind of do a little bit of everything,” the Kiwi tactician told Coaches Unfiltered presented by SMART Sports.
“He’s kind of not as big or as athletic as some of the guys in the Division I level so he really didn’t get the opportunities but he’s worked at his game so over here he’s gonna be a huge problem for the UAAP. That’s kind of a huge replacement for Thirdy,” he opined.
Against Indonesia, Ramos, who transferred from Cal State Pomona to Ateneo back in 2019, had steady numbers of five points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. But he was also a plus-12 when he was on the floor.
In the Calambabubble, Ramos will be learning a lot from his Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin, who is also the program director of Gilas Men’s.
Having experienced being under Baldwin during his time with the Tall Blacks, Dickel knows that Ramos will grow a lot as a player during the next few weeks.
“Tab’s really gonna teach you how to play.
“You know I don’t think what really people understand that it’s just how well Tab teaches younger people how to play, he really teaches them how to play. You don’t realize this at this time but as you get older, you kinda take it step by step and apply to what you’ve learned already,” he shared.
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