Some of the country’s most legendary cagers go up against some of the game’s future greats.
As Gilas Pilipinas prepares to be a team worthy of hosting the FIBA World Cup, Chot Reyes and his coaching his staff are probably hoping that they can build a unit that will go down as one of the country's best basketball squads ever.
At the moment, Coach Chot is working with a 20-man pool with a few players still down due to injuries. Once things go according to plan, however, that vision might just turn into reality.
With that in mind, let’s measure how great this batch of Gilas hopefuls can really be by pitting them against arguably the most talented group of hoopers who’ve had the privilege of wearing the flag’s colors—the 1998 Philippine Centennial Team. We believe this is a worthy sequel to the this fantasy matchup series, where we previously pitted the Gilas pool against Team USA.
To be fair, Gilas’ naturalized players will be excluded from this exercise. The 13th Asian Games bronze medalists didn’t have reinforcements back then, so, let’s have Justin Brownlee, Ange Kouame, and Jordan Clarkson sit this one out.
Game!
Marlou Aquino and the Centennial bigs vs Kai Sotto and the Gilas pool bigs
While it can be argued that the centers and power forwards of the Centennial Team are craftier with the likes of Alvin Patrimonio, Jun Limpot, Dennis Espino, and Marlou Aquino manning the paint, the collective superiority in size and athleticism of June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, and Kai Sotto might be too overwhelming to overcome.
The other two bigs of the ‘98 team were Andy Seigle and EJ Feihl, both inferior in speed and mobility to their Gilas matchups in AJ Edu and Poy Erram. All in all, today’s bigger and more agile pivots seem to have the edge.
Vergel Meneses and Kenneth Duremdes vs Jamie Malonzo and the Gilas pool wings
This is basically Centennial Team’s Vergel Meneses and Kenneth Duremdes vs. Gilas’ Jamie Malonzo, Chris Newsome, and Rhenz Abando. As admirable as the Gilas’ trio’s explosiveness and two-way games are, it’s hard to go against the scoring prowess of the two high-flying, former PBA MVPs.
Defense is in the young gunners’ side but the take-over ability of the Aerial Voyager and Captain Marbel puts them ahead of their counterparts.
Johnny Abarrientos and the Centennial guards vs Scottie Thompson and the Gilas Pool guards
At first glance, Centennial Team’s guard lineup seems unbeatable as it has point god Johnny A and the country’s GOAT shooter Allan Caidic. Supporting them were Mr. Clutch Jojo Lastimosa, the always reliable Jeffrey Cariaso, and five-star floor general Olsen Racela. But looking closer, the height and defensive advantages of Gilas’ Scottie Thompson, Dwight Ramos, Ray Parks, Jordan Heading, and Cjay Perez could be a game-changing factor.
It is possible that the Centennial guards could be a bit better at getting buckets having the Triggerman's excellent sniping from beyond the arc. That being said, the boys in Gilas blue aren’t far behind the all-time greats when it comes to shot-making. After all, they've got Saint Dwight who could also heat up from deep. A tie might be the right call when it comes to this comparison.
The verdict: Down two points in the dying seconds, Lastimosa drains a pull-up jumper on top of the key to tie the game up at 99 apiece. Centennial team drillmaster Tim Cone and Gilas coach Chot Reyes then call a halt to the tune-up match, leaving the result in a draw.
That’s how it is. None of us can do anything about it.
Ultimately, the only time we can accurately assess Gilas’ FIBA World Cup roster is when its Final 12 eventually see action in the game’s biggest stage, which will tip off on August 25.
(GM)