Gilas to Stop Adding Players: A Good Call

Count Justin Chua, Vic Manuel, Abu Tratter, and Javee Mocon as the last of the reinforcements Gilas Pilipinas will receive as the national team is said to be settled with the amount of talent that the current training pool has.

Despite losing Japeth Aguilar, Christian Standhardinger, Mac Belo and Matthew Wright to injuries with Aguilar going on an extended honeymoon, and with Ray Parks still fixing his thing with TNT, the national team is settled and will now focus on preparing for the game against Indonesia on the 23rd. That is according to Gabby Cui, the team manager of Gilas Pilipinas. According to Cui, the team is just waiting on the other players to report for practice as of the four new additions, only Manuel and Tratter are yet to show up due to the team building session they are attending with the Alaska Aces.

And by the way, Justine Baltazar of the De La Salle Green Archers is yet to show up along with Ray Parks.

Question: is it a good decision for the national team to stop adding players to replace those who previously withdrew?

Answer: Yes. Why?

For one, assuming that Gilas does get new players, they no longer have the ample to teach everything to the new guys considering the fact that this is Mark Dickel's first time handling the national team. New system. New coach. New everything. It's gonna eat a whole lot of time. For another? What about the players who have been showing up in practice diligently? In a way, Gilas' no longer getting new players to replace those who begged off is a way of showing those who stayed since Day 1 that yes, "You are enough,"

But the most important reason why Gilas' call to no longer accept new players? 

Some of the players in the pool, led by the Ravena brothers, Nieto brothers, Isaac Go, CJ Perez, among other young stars, have been practicing under the supervision of Mark Dickel and Tab Baldwin and in those practices, they already developed a chemistry that allows them to work cohesively. Adding new players into the fold will disrupt the chemistry. And you don't want that, do you? 

The ball is now on Dickel's hands as he will have a daunting task of forming a 12-man team out of the players he has been provided. 

Photo is from Manila Bulletin