Torman versus Dickel: A Battle of Gilas' Past and Present Tacticians

Gilas Pilipinas is pitted against an Indonesian team that has been so familar to them. No. It's not because Gilas has been Indonesia by an average margin of 30 points in their last 5 encounters including a 27-point home win for Gilas in last year's 30th SEA Games. And it's not because CJ Perez has played with Indonesian naturalized player, Lester Prosper in the PBA. Prosper, by the way, is not included in Indonesia's line-up for the first window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers. Nope.

Gilas' familiarity with the Indonesian goes beyond the fact that the Filipinos have the Indonesians' numbers. It's the fact that they will be pitted against one of the pioneers of Gilas Pilipinas itself: Coach Rajko Toroman who will be calling the shots for the Indonesian team. 

Remember Rajko Toroman? The Serbian coach who led Gilas Pilipinas to a fourth-place finish in the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship? The same Rajko Toroman who coached our national team from 2009 to 2011? The same Rajko Toroman who had stints with the Petron Blaze Booster and the Barako Bull Energy in the PBA from 2012 to 2013? That's the same Rajko Toroman who also coached Iran when they won the gold in the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship. Toroman's resume has proven that he's a winning coach especially when his team is healthy.

On the other side of the fence, Gilas Pilipinas will be led by interim Coach Mark Dickel who is also serving as the team consultant of the TNT KaTropa in the PBA. While Dickel has only been coaching since 2010 when he started out with the Albanian national team, he had a long playing career which saw him play in various basketball leagues in New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Poland, and even Greece before being forced to leave after sustaining a season-ending back injury. And no, he hasn't won a single championship in his entire coaching career which is why the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers is another step for Dickel to do something worthwhile- even as an interim coach of a young Gilas squad who is not only aiming at a ticket to the FIBA Asia Cup next year but also to prepare for the 2023 FIBA World Cup in which the Philippines is chosen as one of the host countries.

Heading into tonight's game in Jakarta, Mark Dickel and Rajko Toroman will be facing off in a match featuring Gilas' past and present head coaches. The experienced Toroman taking on the young Dickel. Now, unlike their respective coaches, Gilas Pilipinas and Indonesia will be fielding similar line-ups that don't have naturalized players and are loaded with young blood. Both Gilas and Indonesian players who are included in their line-ups have an average age of 25 years old. While Indonesia is not having some of their key players due to injuries and with Prosper out of the line-up due to what many believed was an issue in his passport, they will be led by Abraham Grahita who scored 25 points in a losing effort against the mighty Koreans. Indonesia is still a team that Gilas Pilipinas needs to take with extra caution as the Indonesians are coached by one of the minds behind the growth of our national team during the past decade.  

Even Mark Dickel acknowledges the mere fact that the Toroman-coached Indonesia side is a disciplined and well-coached squad even though they were losing by big margins. And that says something about Toroman's reputation as a coach.

So we shouldn't be surprised at all if tonight's game will be a chess match between Toroman and Dickel. After all, an experienced mentor is trying to get back into the winning side while the young one wants to start winning on his first day. 

Photo is from the Manila Bulletin