I GOT ALL MY PHOTOS FROM THE FIBA WORLD CUP WEBSITE
Just when you thought all talk about the 2023 FIBA World Cup is over, I am here to act like a vulture and salvage the information that I can extract.
This time, we are going to dive headfirst into the players that represented our brand of ball on the biggest stage of global basketball.
While Americans think that their basketball champions are the “world champions,” the FIBA World Cup is a tournament made up of the 32 best teams across six continents. And after the legendary core that prevailed against Korea in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, the Philippines is back to face the best of the best.
Of course, the teams we fought are more experienced and are considered powerhouses of their continents. From 2014 to 2023, Gilas Pilipinas posted a 2-13 record. We had close calls against Italy, Serbia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Angola, and Argentina while getting the W against Senegal and Asian rival China.
Japeth Aguilar and June Mar Fajardo are the only players in the team to play in all three squads with Gabe Norwood, Paul Lee, Kiefer Ravena, RR Pogoy, CJ Perez, and Andray Blatche getting the call twice.
So it’s time to rank them all – from the cream of the crop to the bottom of the barrel.
Here are numbers 20 to 11.
Game starts now.
20 | MARC PINGRIS – 2014
5 GAMES | 3.8PPG – 4.0RPG – 0.8APG – 0.8SPG
47.4% FG – 33.3% FT – 1.4TPG – 20.8MPG
Marc Pingris is the poster boy of the never-say-die spirit of the Filipinos in international competitions. With that said, most of his contributions are not on paper. For starters, he was facing the best of the world and there is no proper math for hustling and muscling, diving for loose balls, and becoming the best bench cheerleader. Pinoy Sakuragi’s best game was during their overtime loss against Croatia, where he scored 10 points and 4 rebounds in 30 minutes while defending Dario Saric.
19 | PAUL LEE – 2014
5 GAMES | 5.8PPG – 1.6RPG – 1.0APG – 0.6SPG – 1.0 3PM
37.5% FG – 31.2% 3PT – 85.7% FT – 1.4TPG – 15.0MPG
Jayson Castro, despite his talents, was playing injured in 2014. This is why Paul Lee stepping up is a good thing for Gilas Pilipinas. Yes, Lee fouled out twice and only logged an average of 15 minutes per game, but he did well in the role given to him. In fact, his best game came when he was going head-to-head with Carlos Arroyo. Yes, in some ways, Lee’s aggressiveness prompted Arroyo to step up his game, but he did have 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals versus Puerto Rico. He also had a plus/minus of 10 in the 22 minutes that he logged against Senegal.
18 | JAPETH AGUILAR – 2019
5 GAMES | 4.8PPG – 3.0RPG – 1.0APG – 0.2BPG – 0.2 3PM
36.7% FG – 25% 3PT – 20.9MPG
Japeth Aguilar had his best FIBA World Cup stint playing for a coach that he never really wanted to play for. It has been a decade since the 2009 PBA Draft though and both Aguilar and Yeng Guiao have moved on. In fact, his 2019 stint doubled his playing time in both his 2014 and 2023 stints combined. As the freakishly athletic big man who served as the main running buddy for Andray Blatche, Japeth’s best game happened against Angola where he had eight points, five rebounds, three assists, and a block in 29 minutes of action.
17 | RHENZ ABANDO – 2023
5 GAMES | 5.2PPG – 2.2RPG – 0.4APG – 0.2SPG – 1.2BPG – 0.6 3PM
45.5% FG – 23.1% 3PT – 50% FT – 13.5MPG
This energy bolt is the epitome of the “puso” thing we have because he literally and figuratively had to climb the depths of benchwarming hell to become the hero every Filipino wanted. I don’t know anyone who hated Abando’s Gilas stint. Yes, he gets too excited at times but he gets his minutes for playing like there’s no tomorrow. The dude does his own full-court trap when most of his teammates are peacefully letting the opponents in the half-court. Also, Air Abando is the only player in Gilas to have his minutes increase from the first game to the fifth! And even his cameos are awesome. Remember the dunk he unleashed against the Dominican Republic? Only a dickhead would think that a healthy Abando shouldn’t be a part of a future Gilas Pilipinas team.
16 | JAYSON CASTRO – 2014
4 GAMES | 6.5PPG – 1.3RPG – 1.3APG – 0.5SPG – 1.2 3PM
26.7% FG – 35.7% 3PT – 83.3% FT – 1.0TPG – 17.3MPG
Jayson Castro at this point is regarded by many as Asia’s best point guard. During the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, The Blur averaged 11.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists including a 17-point outburst against Korea. With that said, he played hurt in Spain and a healthy Blur could have helped the team pull an upset against our sorry losses. Castro actually missed the Senegal game and that match could have gone either way. With that said, even in his worst, he was still able to shine through with his best game against Argentina where he scored 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists – with three of his shots coming from the three-point land.
15 | ROBERT BOLICK – 2019
5 GAMES | 8.6PPG – 1.2RPG – 1.0APG – 1.4 3PM
46.9% FG – 38.9% 3PT – 100% FT – 1.4TPG – 14.2MPG
The 2019 FIBA World Cup is our worst showing. Not only did we lose all of our assignments, but the deficit was so high that we finished 32 of 32. But why is Robert Bolick averaging almost 9 points and almost 39 percent from beyond the arc? The former Northport guard was a late addition alongside CJ Perez and they really delivered as fearless shock troopers. In some ways, he is one part of the 2023 version that we didn’t have – a sure-fire scorer who is unafraid of the defense that’s thrown at him. Bolick scored in double figures twice and never went below five points in five games. His best output was against Iran where he scored 15 points off 6-of-9 shooting from the field, including three triples.
14 | KAI SOTTO – 2023
5 GAMES | 6.0PPG – 4.0RPG – 0.6APG – 0.2SPG – 0.8BPG
63.2% FG – 50% FT – 14.2MPG
I thought one of the main reasons why we need to host the FIBA World Cup is to make it a Kai Sotto talent showcase. Of course, when the hosting rights were first introduced, our main young guys were Bobby Ray Parks and Kobe Paras. Also a second-generation player, Kai found himself struggling for time as he was time-sharing with June Mar Fajardo, and of the two upstarts, AJ Edu proved to be more dependable. But as the games progressed, Sotto offered a new dimension in Chot Reyes’ rotation. During the classification round, Sotto averaged 10 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 67 percent from the 2-point area. As of this writing, Kai is still raw for the NBA but at least he’s getting there.
13 | LA TENORIO – 2014
5 GAMES | 6.2PPG – 1.6RPG – 1.2APG – 0.6SPG – 0.8 3PM
40% FG – 57.1% 3PT – 87.5% FT – 0.8TPG – 17.6MPG
I consider LA Tenorio as one of the best point guards in PBA history but for most of the 2014 tournament, Tinyente struggled as the third point guard after Jayson Castro and Jimmy Alapag, and even Paul Lee in some situations. But then, why is Tenorio this high on this list? It took LA one game to make his presence known. Tenorio was the next worst offensive nightmare for the Puerto Ricans as he teamed up with Paul Lee to engage in a shootout against FIBA legend Carlos Arroyo. The PBA’s Iron Man finished with 18 points of 67 percent shooting from the field with a rebound, steal, and two assists. He had a plus/minus of 10 in that match with a 17 in terms of efficiency.
12 | RANIDEL DE OCAMPO – 2014
5 GAMES | 6.2PPG – 3.0RPG – 1.0APG – 0.2SPG – 0.2BPG – 1.0 3PM
35.3% FG – 26.3% 3PT – 100% FT – 1.0TPG – 19.8MPG
We call RDO “Rani-Dirk” because of what he brought to Gilas Pilipinas. He is like a mini-PUSO version of Marc Pingris and in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, his booming triple is as unforgettable as Marc Pingris’ iconic rebound and putback. Ranidel struggled in 2014 because Andray Blatche was also playing away from the ring. RDO only had a 25 percent shooting clip in five games – including a 1-11 clip from the three-point area. However, RDO had one great game and he almost won it for Gilas. Against Argentina, he went 7-of-14 from the field and had four triples. He also had 5 rebounds and an assist. Yes, Gilas still lost but back then, losing 81-85 to a powerhouse like Argentina was just unfathomable.
11 | GABE NORWOOD – 2014
5 GAMES | 5.2PPG – 3.0RPG – 1.0APG – 1.0SPG – 0.2BPG – 0.4 3PM
34.4% FG – 13.3% 3PT – 50% FT – 1.2TPG – 31.8MPG
The Gabe Norwood of 2014 was so important that even if his numbers aren’t jaw-dropping, he gets the job done in other ways. This is why I really hate the fact that he is this good on international games and in the PBA, you only have him as a guy with two championships, a Rookie of the Year award, and one Mythical Team selection. Apart from putting Luis Scola on the wrong side of a viral slam dunk video, he can defend multiple positions with relative ease. But yeah, it would have helped if didn’t have a 13 percent clip from the three-point area. We can’t really say what’s his best game because it’s hard to make the math for the hustle stats but against Senegal, he had 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals.