FIBA Asia Cup does not serve as a qualifying tournament for the Olympics unlike the past years, but that doesn’t mean Gilas Pilipinas is going to the region’s most prestigious basketball event less motivated.
“This is in effect, an Asian Championship,” wrote Gilas coach Tim Cone in a Viber message to Pinoystep.com. “We are totally motivated. That goes without question.”
“In anything that we do to represent the country, we will always be motivated. This is something greater and beyond ourselves and we’re all thrilled to represent.”
For now, the most important thing for the Filipinos is to get back on the winning track and they will need the support not just of the entire nation, but also by the Pinoys based in Saudi Arabia. The Filipinos face the Kiwis in an all-important game on Thursday, 11 p.m. (Manila time).
Cone and the rest of the Philippine squad went off to a bad start and fell short, losing its opening game against a vastly-improved Chinese Taipei squad, 87-95.
Unlike in the past, FIBA Asia Cup, formerly known as the Asian Basketball Confederation, used to be a qualifying tournament both for the World Cup and the Olympics, but following a new calendar created by the world basketball governing body, new qualifications are now being followed in securing an Olympic berth.
Top performing teams in every region during the World Cup will be given guaranteed seats in the Olympics. Such was the case happened to Japan when it ended up as the No.1 Asian squad right after the 2023 FIBA World Cup, which the Philippines co-hosted along with Japan and Indonesia.
The Philippines, on the other hand, had to go through a tougher route in quest of an elusive Olympic berth by competing in a grueling phase in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament held last year in Latvia.
“We have successes last year which we haven’t seen in a long, long time, beating European countries, not just European countries, but crack teams in the world,” said Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Erika Dy. “We were also able to beat New Zealand in November.”
“There are two ways to get to the Olympics — the first one is through the World Cup. The 2027 World Cup is a qualifier for the 2028 Olympics in LA and our journey there begins in November during the World Cup Qualifier.”
The Olynpic dream has to take a backseat for now as our Philippine men’s basketball team will need to deal something in front of them that is to get back on the winning track and beat New Zealand.
Unlike their previous encounter when Gilas had Kai Sotto on board, the Philippines will need to get more their remaining best big guys — eight-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo and 6-foot-10 Fil-Cypriot AJ Edu — against the Tall Blacks.
This year’s roster is going to be an entirely different team with players like Mojave King, Tohl Smith-Milner and Carlin Davison, players who were not part of the Tall Blacks team that lost to Gilas last year, 89-93, during their window game, are now retooling New Zealand’s side.
King is a 6-foot-3 guard while Smith-Milner is a bruising 6-foot-9 forward. Davison is a 6-foot-5 swingman, but all of these players provided the much needed help on mainstay Taylor Britt in the Tall Blacks’ 100-78 demolition of Iran.
