What do we make of the latest series of developments concerning our Gilas Pilipinas Men’s National Basketball Team?
Unless you’ve committed 100-percent of your waking days to Wordle, Tiktok, NFTs, or Mobile Legends, you’ve probably heard, read, or watched about the bewildering turn of events affecting Gilas Pilipinas.
Current TNT Tropang Giga head coach Chot Reyes returns to helm the national team, replacing erstwhile head coach and program director Tab Baldwin, who either stepped down or was removed, depending on whom you ask and believe. Tab continues to be the head coach of the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles, who are seeking a fourth straight UAAP Men’s Basketball crown. The rumor mill has been abuzz about how even that position (allegedly) very nearly got snagged from under Coach Tab’s feet, if not for the fear of a Blue-and-White-hued People Power revolution along Katipunan Avenue.
But I can confirm that Coach Tab will still be with the team as his contract will still run for four more seasons — including the two UAAP seasons this year.
So for the Ateneans and Ateneo fans out there, be at peace and continue to hope that the status quo remains as far as the defending UAAP champs are concerned.
As for the millions and millions of Gilas supporters, well, we’re all caught in a tempest of confusing emotions and messaging.
We don’t know what the truth is, and to whom we can run for it.
When this development saw the light of day, it was, ironically, late in the evening on January 31, just when most Pinoys were either ready to sink into the sack or drown their Monday blues in whatever pick-your-poison concoction they had stocked at home.
Instead of a peaceful welcoming of the Lunar New Year, however, we were all rocked to our collective basketball fandom cores by the news that, and this is lifting choice lines directly from the released statement of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP):
“Gilas Head Coach Tab Baldwin has expressed to Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Chairman Emeritus, Mr. Manuel V. Pangilinan that he is stepping down from his duties as Gilas Head Coach to focus on his responsibilities to the Ateneo Men’s Basketball Team.
Vincent ‘Chot’ Reyes shall be taking over National Team Head Coach duties beginning February 1, 2022.
The SBP respects Coach Tab’s decision and thanks him for his valuable contributions to the Gilas Program. The National Federation would also like to ask our countrymen to support Coach Chot Reyes as we prepare to bring Basketball’s biggest stage to our homecourt.”
I can go on and on about the different indications that this was a technically hurried statement and that it left so much to be desired. In fact, it left a void that only the elusive truth can fill. Suffice to say that if this statement’s originators hoped it would quell any discontent, then the immediate reactions on social media should undoubtedly prove that it had the completely opposite effect.
In the complete statement, there were quotes from three important individuals in Philippines Basketball: the aforementioned SBP Chairman Emeritus, current SBP President Al Panlilio, and Coach Chot himself.
Where was Coach Tab’s own personal statement? His own quote?
Perhaps he’s still trying to formulate one because it sure as heck was not on SBP’s official statement, and as far as I know, he hasn’t released his own yet, though I’m sure his devices have been sounding their alarms without fail as queries and interview requests pour in.
Did Coach Tab choose not to give one? We can only speculate, though that would be to the detriment of our own mental and emotional health, and of course, we don’t need more of that after everything else already happening around the world.
But if we are being completely honest, this reeks of something confounding brewing below the surface, whether or not Coach Tab did step down of his own volition and whether or not Coach Chot was blindsided by this request to return to Gilas. Who is accountable for all these marbles dropping on the hardwood and scattering to the dark corners of Philippines hoops? Your guess is as good as mine.
Amidst all the drama (what is Gilas if not for drama, but this is beyond quota, even for our national team), what we’re sure of is this — the awful timing, muddled messaging, and scuttled program continuity has made an already steep climb in the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers even steeper.
Lest we forget, Gilas play India, New Zealand, and Korea (twice) in the next window of these qualifiers, which will take place on February 24-28 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
And yes, while one may say that with the Philippines being a co-host of the FIBA Basketball World Cup next year, we have been automatically seeded into the quadrennial tournament, I don’t want to hear any drivel about these being “no bearing” games.
One of the many things I’ve learned as a coach is that the term “no bearing” doesn’t exist. No self-respecting players or coaches would dare approach any competition with that thought planted in their minds. Every game is consequential, whether that consequence is measured in the win-loss records, in the qualification table, in the team’s collective psyche, in freak injuries, or in other ways.
And that’s why, if you’ve seen Coach Chot’s interviews this week, it’s easy to feel his anxiety taking on this role. No matter what you believe about any of the involved personalities’ contexts, whoever’s helming Gilas right now has his work cut out for him.
Remember that the Tall Blacks have always been a tough matchup for us, and I honestly cannot recall if we have ever beaten their national team in recent years.
Korea has brought their seasoned World Cup veterans back in the fold, replacing many of the young guns we beat twice last year. Korea is more experienced, bigger, deeper, and hungrier this time around, and with our Gilas boys not yet training as a team, the odds of our team blanking the Koreans again are absolutely terrible.
As for India, that’s a team we should handily beat even with a hastily assembled squad, though with so many distractions hovering around Gilas, who knows what will happen, eh?
As of writing, if Gilas tipped off its bubble on Friday, the team would have less than three weeks before they face a vengeful Korean quintet — far less ideal than anyone wants. Shrewd oddsmakers are gonna have a field day, for sure.
At best, I see Gilas going 3-1 in the coming window (4-0 would be a near-impossible dream), while at worst, we can go 1-3. That automatic qualification certainly seems more like a crutch rather than a boost given all these puzzling circumstances.
But then again, despite all the conspiracy theories taking over social media like scorpions filling up our minds, maybe the truth is simpler than we think. Maybe a confluence of unfortunate events contributed to this eventuality.
Remember that Gilas last trained in early December, right before the holidays, which is a BIG thing in our country. Remember, too, that the 2019 Gilas draftees’ contracts were already up when the clock struck midnight last Tuesday — that surely presented some wrinkles in the plans. And remember that we were in the grips of the global pandemic’s strong resurgence, with Gilas itself unable to evade its own health issues. And then as competition-starved UAAP teams focused on the coming season and the PBA found itself mired in its own Omicron-driven scheduling difficulties, maybe the cards Gilas was dealt with resulted in nothing more than a recipe for calamity. Perhaps all of these played their parts in producing a scenario where it was pretty much inevitable to scramble for the coming window.
But if that were the truth, where’s the drama in that, right? We’d rather gravitate toward shady boardroom (or backroom) discussions and decisions that maybe didn’t happen at all — or if they did happen, maybe not the way we’d like to think.
Here’s my truth — I pity both Coach Tab and Coach Chot. Both are being judged and assaulted from all sides and by all comers, whether these are from trolls, fanatics, people they trust, or otherwise. In my view, on varying levels, both are coming out the worse here.
But the real victim in all of this?
Philippine basketball.
I’ve always thought it to be a cursed crown worn by anyone named Gilas head coach, and this just illuminates that even more.
Now Coach Chot wears the cursed crown, and perhaps unconsciously, Coach Tab may now feel — to paraphrase from William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” — “Lesser than Chot and greater… Not so happy, yet much happier.”
So foul and fair a day have we not seen, fellow Gilas fans, and though I hope this is as bad as it gets, I fear the worst may yet come.
But my heart still hopes for the best.
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