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'Everybody's to blame — including myself,' says MVP as Gilas program resets
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) chairman emeritus Manuel V. Pangilinan took some of the responsibility for the situation the Gilas Pilipinas program is in, facing a reset just weeks ahead of the February window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Local basketball fans received surprising news late Monday night when the SBP announced that TNT Tropang Giga head coach Chot Reyes would return to the national team.
In the announcement, SBP said Reyes would replace Tab Baldwin
, who will focus on his duties as the head tactician of the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP.Pangilinan, more popularly known as MVP, recalled in an interview with One News' 'The Chiefs' on Friday the events leading to the decision.
"Over the holidays, Tab was in the States in Florida because his brother was sick. He had to be with him for that reason. When he got back middle to late Janurary, we have been talking with him about the Ateneo, when does Ateneo start to train, working out the details," Pangilinan recalled.
"[Then] we started to talk about Gilas because if you recall, the Basketball World Cup is scheduled to be held here next year," Pangilinan said, adding that he suggested to Baldwin to form an ideal pool of players for 2023 which can work back to February or March.
Pangilinan then recalled Baldwin calling him one weekend. "This is my recollection, he said that on reflection, it might be good for him to stay with the Ateneo and for SBP to nominate a coach for Gilas. He said he would help and that's when the name of Chot emerged in that conversation," the business magnate narrated.
From then, MVP said he talked to SBP officials Al Panlilio and Ricky Vargas regarding the development.
Asked whether the efforts made for the Gilas program were wasted as the program looks to start again, somehow from scratch, Pangilinan admitted "there's some truth to that" while not shying away from taking on blame.
"If you start the blame game, eh 'di ba kasama rin siya doon? Kasi walang nangyari, or COVID, that's principally the reason pero walang nag-iisip," Pangilinan said.
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"Everybody's to blame, including myself, wala kaming ginawa over that course, maybe not exactly two years, but more than one year walang nangyari. We have to start all over again."
MVP also said player availability has also been an issue for the program, regardless of who would handle the team.
"In the meantime, Japan has been taking away players from us. Correct naman 'yun kasi 'yung mga players anong ginagawa rito? These guys are built to race, to run, to compete. They've been lying fallow for more than a year. I can sympathize why I would want to play elsewhere and earn money in the interim," said Pangilinan.
"Even in my discussion with Tab sometime in January, there was an issue outstanding sinong players ang available?" the sports patron said, adding that a number of Gilas players have signified to Baldwin their intention to be drafted and move to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
For Pangilinan, having Reyes at the helm may easily help in the formation of a team, at least for the upcoming February window.
"The advantage of having Chot, if I may say that, is he probably will use the core players of TNT to reinforce the Gilas team that will compete in the February window," he said.
"We will have to deploy easily accessible PBA players, maybe from the group, hopefully the San Miguel group would help, and have a combination of the best of what Tab had in the past and what the PBA players would lend to us."
On Friday, the PBA approved SBP's request to allow some TNT players to join the national team in the upcoming window of the World Cup Qualifiers.
The Philippines will face South Korea, India, and New Zealand late February for the qualifiers, which will be held in the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
—Justin Kenneth Carandang/JMB, GMA News