The Final Score: Gilas 17-man pool is not the Dream Team. It shouldn’t be.

I scanned the names on the 17-man pool for the Philippine Men’s Basketball Team. My blood pressure didn’t rise. My heart didn’t sink. It didn’t make me say, “Oh wow!” It didn’t force me to exclaim, “What on earth?” Instead, I reviewed the list calmly. Steady lang. Just as Gilas head coach Chot Reyes promised, what he formed was a team, not an unprecedented gathering of the biggest names. [Related: Chot Reyes reveals 17-man training pool for FIBA Asia Championship] What I’m about to write will sound absurd. It probably is. I believe the rivalry between the PLDT group of companies and the San Miguel group of companies, a natural chasm that prevented Reyes from selecting from a larger pool of players, was a blessing in disguise. Necessity breeds invention. In this case, corporate politics produced a welcome paradigm shift. Because of the limitations set by political circumstance, as fans and observers, we were forced to abandon a “get the best of the best” mentality. In the past, national teams were always pressured to get the hottest coach and recruit the most prolific players. It was a dream-team-style of putting rosters together. In 2012, we knew that was no longer possible. Reyes moved on. We moved on. We learned to watch how Gilas teams were formed based on basketball philosophies, not on brand name players. It was liberating in a way. We started to focus on the style of play. We began to study which available players were best suited to play alongside Marcus Douthit. Kasi hindi nga posible makuha lahat ng pwedeng makuha, so kinalaingang gumawa ng paraan. As the coach, Reyes had to be innovative in forming his teams. As fans, we had to be creative in analyzing the coach’s line-ups. Ideally, all PBA players should be available and all players should be volunteering for the national team. But as in most things in life, we rarely operate under ideal situations. Hence, I wasn’t too concerned about limitations set by corporate conflicts. Was I being jaded or optimistic? I just knew this: politics is just as ingrained in sports as injuries. Let’s go back to the list. I see a combination of two teams. The pool is part-Talk ‘N Text and part-Jones Cup Gilas. Some wonder why seven TNT players made it. I don’t. These guys helped TNT win three consecutive Philippine Cups. I’m glad they’re on the list. I’m also confident that if any of these players are cut from the team at the last minute, they probably won’t throw tantrums on Twitter. Jones Cup veterans comprise the other half of the pool. They know the system. They know how it feels to win with the national team. They likewise know how it feels to lose with the national team. It’s the kind of holistic experience they need for the FIBA-Asia Championships. Most importantly, most players on the list have played under Reyes. A corporate rivalry somehow taught me to highlight that point, to look at chemistry instead of popularity, to consider the system instead of counting stars. - AMD, GMA News