(This is an opinion to the article No more pro players for future Gilas Pilipinas? by Randolph B. Leongson from Inquirer.net.)The Rio Olympic dream is now truly just a dream after Gilas Pilipinas lost to New Zealand 89-80 on Wednesday in the FIBA OQT.
This emotional game was made more heartbreaking by the announcements of Ranidel De Ocampo and Jayson Castro retiring from international competition, with Marc Pingris also considering to do the same. All of these developments coincide with an information that FIBA will soon institute a new calendar by 2017.As reported by Randolph B. Leongson of Inquirer.net:
“Home-and-away games will be played between national teams in four competition windows scattered across the year, with teams obtaining points to help in their qualification for the regional tournaments, the Fiba Basketball World Cup, and the Olympics.”
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) is set to enlist top collegiate stars to counter this move; for clearly, professional players from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) would be limited (in their participation) by the new proposed schedule and format. This is a new dilemma to soon be addressed to keep the Gilas Pilipinas program going.
This brings about questions of players’ and mother teams’ commitments, team priorities, team financial investments and the pride as well as the privilege to represent our country in the international arena.
“Puso” has been the whole country’s (basketball crazed) battle cry in all of Gilas Pilipinas’ international exposures. A word that should also be considered by SBP for the furtherance of Philippine basketball as a whole.
For now, let me shed a tear for our recent defeat. Hopefully, SBP will find a way in the (not so distant) future to finally get the right mix to win big in international basketball level.
Oh yes! The Rio Olympic dream is now truly just a dream…- See more at: http://awinaway.com/2016/07/08/where-to-gilas-pilipinas/#sthash.9KGfSvbL.dpuf