(c) PBA Media Bureau
As we wake up two days watching our national team be embarrassed by a 46 points defeat in the hands of the Italian, it is time for us to do some soul-searching as a basketball country. Yes, the tournament is not yet over for us but with what we saw in that game, do you really expect a reversal?
It is true that Italy has more talented players than ours. It is true that Italy has better chemistry than us. But they do not have puso, right?
That is what we have as Filipinos that other countries do not have. Am I right?
Nope. Every team has that. Actually, some nationalities have more of that than us. How can we even be proud about that battle cry if several of our top basketball players chose not to be a part of our Gilas pool.
That "Puso" mantra has been covering a lot of issues around our national team. Issues that were present 20 years ago, when Smart and SBP were not yet the partners who are spearheading our national team.
And the reality is, other countries also have those as their main issues. I am basically talking about the length of preparation and the talent of our pool.
So, what are the things that we should do?
We can start by stopping our reliance on Puso. We can start by being more realistic that the talent of our players are way lower than where it needed to be and that to have a chance of having a deeper run in the upcoming 2023 World Cup, we should instead rely on chemistry.
In short, long preparation will be the key.
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