Tab Baldwin, head coach of the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, is of the opinion that the present Gilas Pilipinas team in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup doesn’t encounter any issues with ball carriers.
Following their 87-81 loss to the Dominican Republic on Friday night, the former mentor of the national men’s basketball team made this statement in response to netizens’ concerns about the team’s shortage of ball carriers.
“I really think people need to stop talking about positional basketball. We have ball carriers, and this is probably the term people need to start using,” Baldwin said in an interview with One News’ Power and Play on Saturday.
“Scottie Thompson’s a ball carrier. Kiefer (Ravena) is certainly an excellent ball carrier. He played extremely well in the first half. Dwight Ramos is a confident ball carrier. Of course, Jordan is a good ball carrier, so we don’t have problems there,” he added.
Baldwin went on to explain that the substantial number of turnovers committed by Gilas Pilipinas against the Dominicans is a result of the playing style implemented by head coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes.
“I think the 19 turnovers, and Jordan had eight while Scott had five of those, were really a byproduct of the style of play where we use an attacking style of play to collapse defenses and kick out to shooters,” Baldwin said.
“We had a little bit of limited success doing that with Roger (Pogoy) and Scott hitting a couple of threes,” he added. “No matter how you create that penetration, whether it’s isolation or whether it’s ball screens, that’s what people are doing.”
“They are trying to collapse defenders to kick out to shooters, and that’s characterized in the game,” he further said. “Gilas had a guy who could create, get in the paint, and score in Jordan. But if you have that style of play, you are going to have to live with a few more turnovers.”
Baldwin and the Blue Eagles were among the record crowd of 38,115 present at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, on Friday night.
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