It's insane to know that Alberto "Big Boy" Reynoso played for the 1962 Asian Games champions and was still able to suit up for Toyota and Mariwasa in the PBA until 1977.
Anyway, Gilas Pilipinas finally broke the 61-year-old gold medal drought.
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The boys played awesomely in front of a pro-Jordan and most especially, an anti-Gilas Pilipinas crowd made up of extremely salty Chinese fans who had to settle for the bronze medal. Tim Cone stuck with an eight-man core in the first half with Kevin Alas participating in the middle part of the third quarter.
Chris Newsome played like Gabe Norwood for most of the tournament but in this game, he finally played like his PBA version. Sure, he transformed into a defensive beast, and for the Jordan game, he swarmed on Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. But we know Chris Newsome as the guy with a career average of 13.6 points. Newsome knows how to score and Tim Cone brought out his offensive capabilities.
The same can be said with Angelo Kouame. If there was one player that troubled me in this tournament, it was him. Kouame was brought to the squad to become the Asian Games' version of AJ Edu and Kai Sotto and while he needs to work on his putbacks, he was a defensive monster in both the China and Jordan games. In the Jordan game alone, there were lapses but there were a lot of positive points, especially at the defensive end. With June Mar Fajardo somewhat struggling because most Asian countries know what he is capable of, Kouame stepped in and gave our center position a different look.
Calvin Oftana and Scottie Thompson were like this edition's versions of Ranidel De Ocampo and Jayson Castro. It's a shame that Oftana, the incoming third-year player, is already 27 years old because we really need to develop him into an inside-outside menace. As for Iskati, he has bounced back from a so-so World Cup and can be the key PG of the squad especially with the continuous development of his outside shot.
And what more can we say about Justin Brownlee? I feel he is a PBA grand slam away from becoming the best PBA import of all time. With Jordan Clarkson, the rest of the team NEEDED to step up. With Brownlee, the rest of the team WANTED to step up. The chicken and egg topic between JC and JB boils down to team chemistry. In the Asian Games, the nine rotation players had their roles and they thrived on it. It could be Kevin Alas and his "magic bunot" capabilities or Japeth Aguilar with a green light to initiate the offense. But in the forefront, you can see Brownlee encouraging the players to unlock their PBA superstar capabilities.
Tim Cone is not perfect but I see why he needed to come in. When Chot Reyes left the team after a social media onslaught, Cone was thrust into the spotlight despite his reluctance. He led a team of the best available talents with Asian Games accreditation to victories against China, Iran, and Jordan. Even with the loss to Jordan and the almost defeat to Iran, Cone was still universally loved. And in an instant, he gave Gilas a championship that isn't the SEA Games or Jones Cup for the first time in a long while, he was able to shake off the events that prompted the 1998 Centennial Dream Team to a bronze medal finish, and peace to a somewhat-messy basketball state.
I am not going to say anything about the Olympic Qualifiers or the team outlook going forward. In some ways, the idea of Alfrancis Chua being in charge of Gilas basketball operations is going to be great. While Oftana, Alas, Newsome, and RR Pogoy are great players, most of the established names are under the SMC umbrella. This is why we got excited with the return of Calvin Abueva and Terrence Romeo, and in some ways, we look forward to their next farm team harvest... so they would become valuable Gilas Pilipinas players.
No kidding, if there's one positive thing about the conduits, it's the great SMC talent pool.
Anyway, congratulations, Gilas Pilipinas!