First and foremost, congratulations to Smart Gilas for an impressive start at the 2011 FIBA Asia tournament in Wuhan, China. They only lost once, to the host team, China. They are set to face Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) in the quarter finals this Friday. If they win that game, they will likely face Iran, who are the reigning Asian champions. And if they win against Iran they will then likely face China, which has been the dominant force in the region for the past decade and is the host team of the current tournament.
Looking forward let's see how the outlook is for China, Iran and the Philippine team in particular. China has the young phenom Guo Ailun, who was the youngest player at 16, at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey and three 21 year olds in their national team. Iran has Arsalan Kazemi who is part of their national team and plays for Rice in the US NCAA Division 1.
The Philippine team's prospects for future big men include the 7'0 Greg Slaughter, the 6'10 Junemar Fajardo to man the center spot, possibly with the 6'11 Marcus Douthit. Arnold Van Opstal is also an option at the center or power forward slot. The 6'9.5 Japeth Aguilar, 6'8 Christian Standhardinger, 6'7 Yousef Taha, 6'7 Norbert Torres could be the solution at power forward.
While it's best to have a natural small forward, it seems that the surplus of guards and the lack of small forwards has given us a three guard lineup, while someone like Aldrech Ramos is turning into a good small forward for Gilas, and someone similar like Russell Escoto could possibly make the transition as well, the surplus of guards makes it difficult to play a natural small forward because of the surplus guards, albeit undersized at the three spot, are often more talented than our small forwards.
As for our guards and pseudo small forwards, there are many talents available, included are Kiefer Ravena, Bobby Ray Parks, Stephen Holt, Maverick Ahanmisi, Chris Banchero, Michael Williams, RR Garcia, Alex Nuyles, Ronald Pascual, Calvin Abueva, Baser Amer, Kevin Ferrer, Jeron Teng, Stanley Pringle and also the veteran guards of Gilas, Chris Tiu, Jayvee Casio, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Lutz and Jimmy Alapag could play Chauncey Billups' role in Turkey this past summer.
But remember, all of this is easier said than done. Club/Team interest seem to come before the national team in our country.
My ideal future Philippine 12 is
Cc - Douthit, Slaughter, Fajardo
PF - Standhardinger, Taha
SF - Parks,
SG - Williams, Ravena, Teng
PG - Holt, Banchero, Alapag
with Aguilar, Ferrer and Torres, Pascual and Abueva as part of the pool.
