A Youth-Injected Gilas Pilipinas Team Against Indonesia: Why It Worked?

As they say, why fix something that isn't needed to be fixed?

This might be the youngest Gilas Pilipinas squad that played and WON against Indonesia as part of the first window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers last Sunday

And while most of the players in the line-up are either amateur players or incoming rookies in the PBA, the way they played against Indonesia showed that this young Gilas team is on course to become the National Team Tab Baldwin wants them to become: a  team of commitment to the flag.

Unlike in the past tournaments, this Gilas side will not be featuring Jayson Castro, LA Tenorio, Matthew Wright, Japeth Aguilar, Christian Standhardinger, and yes, the National eam will not be having arguably the greatest big man in the PBA today, June Mar Fajardo. While Marc Pingris, the most experienced Gilas player will be joining the coaching staff of Mark Dickel, the number of experienced PBA players who are included in the final roster for the Indonesia game isn't a surprise as far as Mark Dickel is concerned.

When the 24-man training pool was first announced last month, the list raised a few eyebrows owing to the inclusion of mostly incoming PBA rookies, a ton of amateur stars, and two college players. To make things worse, 4 PBA vets begged off from the pool while one failed to join the practices as he was still in the process of finalizing his PBA future. And when the final 12 players who will be sent to Indonesia have been announced, it even raised more questions.

The 12-man team featured 6 PBA veterans including team captain Kiefer Ravena, a pair of incoming PBA rookies in Isaac Go and Matt Nieto, former collegiate standouts Thirdy Ravena and Juan Gomez De Liano, and Ateneo's prized recruit Dwight Ramos. Surprisingly, Kobe Paras of the UP Fighting Maroons didn't make the cut. 

What's more surprising is the fact that among the 6 PBA players that are included in the pool, JP Erram and RR Pogoy are the two most experienced ones in terms of years in the PBA as they have been in the league since 2014 and 2016 respectively, The rest of the PBA players in Mark Dickel's line up have been in the league for 2 years with CJ Perez being the youngest as he is set to enter his second year in the league. And despite being one of the youngest om the team, CJ Perez was one of those who showed up for work against Indonesia as he even rose up for a dunk en route to finishing 11 points in the contest.

While many suggested that Gilas should put together a team consisting of the league's best players, that can work for a short period of time. While it's doable, the idea of putting together a team of your best players isn't something that Gilas Program Director Tab Baldwin is fond of. In fact, there's a simple explanation for the inclusion of young basketball players, first to the training and eventually, to the final line-up.

The goal is to lay the foundations for the future of the National Team while preparing for the country's hosting of the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Incidentally, Kiefer Ravena, Thirdy Ravena, Juan Gomez De Liano, Isaac Go, CJ Perez, Matt Nieto, and even Dwight Ramos are all part of Chot Reyes' "23 for 23" list of players who could possibly play for the country in 2023. The National Team program is already setting things in motion for the future and the inclusion of Kiefer Ravena and the rest of the future of Philippine basketball to the team is just another step forward towards building a more formidable Gilas Pilipinas who will play in front of the home crowd in 3 years' time.   

And, if there's one thing that explains why having a young Gilas team worked almost perfectly against Indonesia?

They were faster. They were more athletic. As a matter of fact, they dominated the battle in fast-break points, 23-5. Even Gilas rookie Dwight Ramos, who had 5 points and 2 steals, had his own highlight in the game. If anything, this could be a sign that Dwight Ramos and the rest of the young core will be in for the long haul and that's a good sign.

Photo is from FIBA