Hindi pa sapat. Kulang pa sa gilas.
Marami pang kamalian na kailangang maitama sa diskarte ng Gilas Pilipinas bago ang pagsabak sa FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament simula sa Hulyo 5.
Ito ang pagtataya ni Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin matapos ang resulta ng kanilang huling tune-up game laban sa Turkey nitong Biyernes sa MOA Arena.
Paskong Pilipino, pinakamahabang kapaskuhan sa buong mundo
Sa Europe Tour, tinambakan ng Turkish ang Gilas ng 35 puntos.
Sa harap ng local crowd, nagawang makadikit ng Gilas tungo sa 76-84 kabiguan.
Sa kabila nito, hindi kumbinsido si Baldwin sa kahandaan ng Pinoy cagers na magtatangkang maibalik ang Pilipinas sa Olympics mula noong 1968.
“Much better but not good enough,” pahayag ni Baldwin. “Lessons were learned and improvement was made. This is a good gauge I think for how much we’ve improved but there’s still a lot more work to do,”aniya.
“I don’t really want them to feel good. I want them to understand that this was a taste of improvement, this is a step much closer to the goal that we have but we’re not there.”
“We can’t kid ourselves that by just being better, we’re good enough. We’re not. We don’t want to feel good, we don’t want to feel relaxed, we don’t want to feel comfortable. It’s not what anybody wants in the Philippines, we want to win.”
Nanguna sa Gilas si naturalized player Andray Blatche sa naiskor na 20, habang kumubra si Terrence Romeo ng 16 na puntos at tumipa sina Jayson William at Gabe Norwood ng 13 at 10 puntos, ayon sa pagkakasunod.
Makakaharap ng Gilas sa opening game ang tournament favorite France na kasama ng Pinoy sa Group B, bukod sa New Zealand.
Nasa Group A naman ang Turkey kasama ang Senegal at Canada, na sinasabing pangungunahan ni NBA champion Tristan Thompson ng Cleveland Cavaliers. (Marivic Awitan)
