(2ND UPDATE) – Filipinos, madly in love with basketball, cannot take another beating once again under the hands of Vincent “Chot” Reyes, the white-haired head coach of Gilas Pilipinas that cost the Philippine team a gold medal at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in May.
Just this Friday, Gilas was routed by Lebanon by a slender margin of four, the same score that forced the Philippine team to slide into second place in the SEA Games for the first time in 33 years.
Despite being the only six-time PBA Coach of the Year, his record couldn’t insulate himself from the incessant bashing online, which he does not recognize, no matter how constructive some are.
“Number one, I have a secret – I don’t read those comments. I completely logged off. So, I don’t see those comments,” he said when asked by an Indonesian reporter in July.
“Of course, people tell me, but, in the end, the way I see it, I was given this job. I didn’t volunteer for it or apply for it. I was happily retired and doing my work, enjoying my life and coaching my professional team. But my predecessor stepped down and somebody has to do the job. It took a long time for me to accept it,” he added.
The dismal performance of Gilas during the Federation International Basketball Association (FIBA) Cup in July was miles behind what the team achieved during the Asia Cup Qualifiers in 2021, composed of mostly young players and headed by Tab Baldwin, concurrently calling the shots for the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
Sweeping the qualifiers, the Philippine team defied expectations and moved past South Korea, 82-77, in June 2021, led by Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto and RJ Abarrientos, among others.
South Korea stood as a defining and contrasting moment for Philippine basketball as this was Mr. Reyes’s main claim to fame when the national team ended a series of heartbreaks to notch a victory in the FIBA Asia championship in 2013. With Jimmy Alapag, Marc Pingris and Jayson Castro in the frontlines, the Philippines won by seven points, 86-79, in front of a raucous crowd.
“I told the players before the game that now is the chance to right our story, the Gilas story,” Mr. Reyes said at the time.
South Korea now is Mr. Baldwin’s story, who reinvented Gilas to be much more competitive with other countries.
“It’s a great moment for Filipino basketball, so I think it’s just a reward for the work that these young fellows have put in,” he said shortly after their victory.
By this time, Mr. Reyes’s star had dimmed. Just a year after the euphoria over South Korea, he resigned as head coach for his controversial order to shoot at the opponent’s basket to force into overtime against Kazakhstan. Needing to win by 11 points, Gilas was just leading by two.
Then in 2016, when Mr. Baldwin’s leadership at the time failed, Mr. Reyes took the helm anew, only to see Gilas settle for seventh place in the FIBA Asia Cup. Though the team rebounded, a physical brawl against Australia, for which he was fined “for inciting unsportsmanlike behavior,” prompted him again to relinquish the position.
In 2021, he was tapped to coach a PBA team, the Talk N’Text (TNT) Tropang Giga, for the first time in a decade, which may have influenced his coaching style when he was reappointed as Gilas’s head coach.
“Sa PBA po, okay lang kayo ang masunod sa takbo, sistema at tao ng team nyo KASI TNT LANG YUN. Dyan po sa Gilas, dala nyo ang Pilipinas,” Snow Badua, a sports journalist, angrily written on Facebook.
Gilas has suffered too long from embarrassments that a drastic revamp is necessary to reclaim its old glory. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. Right now, with the SBP keeping the status quo, the practices that lead us to defeat have continued to be implemented.
Seemingly unrepentant and unapologetic, Mr. Reyes continues to be proud of his “bara-bara,” dribble drive offense (DDO) type of coaching, which is already past its prime.
It wouldn’t help that Mr. Reyes treats the country’s basketball program as an elementary endeavor. Repetitively rebutting that losses are mere “learning experiences” only demonstrates a lack of an effective blueprint to compete with the heavyweights. Basketball is a game of strategy, not emotions – though patriotic fervor might help a little.
It wouldn’t help either that the goals are tempered just because there’s a good chance that reality sinks in by the end of the day. “We really don’t need to win the game against Lebanon. It’s going to be good for PR, it’s going to be good with my haters, but for the whole team objective, it’s not necessary,” Mr. Reyes said on Aug. 9.
The country lost against Lebanon. Gilas was beset by 21 turnovers, a dirty 24-of-55 shooting from the field and 6-of-23 from 3, lack of chemistry and overreliance on star players, particularly Jordan Clarkson, who debuted on the national team with 24 points.
“Twenty-one turnovers really were the big difference in this ballgame and that was the result of us not yet as familiar with each other as we’d like to be,” Mr. Reyes said post-game. “If we get some more practice time together, we should be able to address that.”
But fans are tired of explanations anymore. They want the country to excel in a sport that has defined all the other sports.
The vexation has come to the point of no return, as evident in Gilas’s game last night against Saudi Arabia, where the national team won handily, 84-46. Upon being introduced, the crowd booed the beleaguered Mr. Reyes. Though players asked fans not to do it again, the wounds of defeat are still fresh that resentments won’t quell anytime soon.
Puno na ang salop. This is how they’re feeling, no matter how broad their knowledge or fervent their support is for basketball.
Dapat na itong kalusin. A nation feeling aggrieved should intensify its pressure campaign to eradicate Mr. Reyes from the coaching stint. Though the system that installed him is also a letdown, such a campaign should be waged on extraordinary matters, like a boycott, protest or relentless explicit online bashing to the point that they would blow themselves up.
Gilas has suffered too long from embarrassments that a drastic revamp is necessary to reclaim its old glory. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. Right now, with the SBP keeping the status quo, the practices that lead us to defeat have continued to be implemented.
SBP keeps saying that Mr. Baldwin was the culprit that led to a weak Gilas lineup since he didn’t want to coach in the February window. But for fans, the American-born coach is superior to Mr. Reyes simply because he drove the team to victory. If there’s no reversal of fortune, or strategy, for this matter, Mr. Reyes would be painted as a loser – a loser that must be thrown out immediately.
Featured image from Rappler.
The Edj View 