We are not talking about our national team's lack of ceiling here. No pun intended.
But Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin is right: If the aim is to win at world level, then it starts with the process of learning.
"If we want to win at this level, we got to take a bunch of beating at this level to learn how to win at this level."
"It’s very difficult for these guys to play at this level when you only have a few games a year," Baldwin rued.
Marc Pingris is also thinking the same thing.
"Inisip namin na kaya namin sila, pero kami yung kinaya nila. Sana maging aral itong nangyaring ito," he added.
Baldwin believes that the national team should take everything as a one big learning experience.
"I think the important reflection tonight is this program is it’s in own world in a way," Baldwin said.
"I think we competed well in this tournament, but we don’t expect to come to big tournaments and compete," he explained. "We expect to come and progress."
"There’s a lot of positives (from the loss)," he noted. "It’s an eye-opener for us to understand that we need a lot more of this if we expect to be successful at this level."
Pingris also expressed his opinion on the Gilas program, citing that it should continue because of the big leaps it made.
"Tignan niyo naman kahit papaano, nakikila ‘yung bansa natin."
"Alam natin kaya nating lumaban," he added.
He is talking about the two Olympic Qualifying Tournament games against France and New Zealand, where the national team gave a competitive fight until the final buzzer.
Baldwin noted that the international competition is on a whole new level.
"If you look at them, this is their life — playing in this level," he noted.
But the Gilas mentor remained optimistic, "We’re trying to lift our level — our standards… I think that process is ongoing."
Source: Philstar
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