Philippines has gone winless thus far in FIBA World Cup 2023.
But there remains a shot at an Olympic berth if things fall into place -- if Gilas Pilipinas sweep their assignments in the classification phase, and the other Asian teams, namely Japan, Jordan, Iran, China, and Lebanon, do otherwise.
Heading into the next stage of their campaign, a couple of things have stood out for the Filipinos: they need quite a handful more shot-creators and, more glaringly, are missing a deadeye shooter in the vein of Allan Caidic, Jimmy Alapag, Marcio Lassiter, Jeff Chan, and Matthew Wright.
Through three games in the world meet, Gilas is averaging 15.7 assists, with Jordan Clarkson doing much of the heavy lifting with 6.7 per game. As a team, they're shooting 29% from downtown (6.3 threes made on average), with Dwight Ramos and RR Pogoy the lone two players converting more than 35% of their attempts.
Just two years ago, a version of the national team actually did have quite a handful more shot-creators as well as a bevy of deadeye shooters.
Under Tab Baldwin's tutelage, Gilas looked like it was on the right track -- sweeping the third window of qualifiers for the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup, including two victories against archrival South Korea.
With Dwight Ramos emerging as a go-to guy and the likes of Jordan Heading, SJ Belangel, and RJ Abarrientos providing backup, as well as Ange Kouame, Carl Tamayo, and Kai Sotto holding down the fort, the national team seemed to have a true-blue program.
What if that had continued? What if Tab's team was competing in this world meet?
Something to remember, first and foremost, in this exercise -- Clarkson remains the naturalized player, instead of Kouame, as Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas had long pegged the world meet as the main mission for the former NBA Sixth Man of the Year.
Shot creation
Baldwin said in a recent interview that Philippines "has no point guard problem" and Filipinos "need to stop talking about positional basketball."
Following that logic, he'll continue letting Clarkson, Ramos, and Heading -- and even Thirdy Ravena, Dave Ildefonso, and Rey Suerte -- find opportunities either for themselves or their teammates. And even so, he'll also have two kinds of point guards: a heady one in Belangel and a fiery one in Abarrientos.
With all those options, the Filipino offense will, most probably, avoid breaking down whenever the opponent keys in on Clarkson.
Three-point shooting
An always-present feature of Tab's teams is good shooting.
With the Ateneo Blue Eagles, he has never had a squad shoot below 33% from deep. His version of Gilas was similar, as they normed 37.1%.
That'd be a much welcome sight in FIBA World Cup 2023 as deadlier shooters such as Juan Gomez de Liano (47.1%), Calvin Oftana (60%), and even Tamayo (100%) will be more ready and raring to fire away from good looks created by Clarkson and co.
While Baldwin's version of Gilas will, most likely, have a better go at these two issues, they'll conversely run into obstacles Chot Reyes' side didn't have to face.
Experienced bigs
Tamayo, Sotto, Justine Baltazar, and Isaac Go may be modern bigs, but they lack the polish and savvy of veterans like June Mar Fajardo and Japeth Aguilar.
It's been clear as day that Sotto, no matter how much potential he has, has a lot to learn to make his presence felt just like Fajardo did against Dominican Republic, against Karl-Anthony Towns, no less.
AJ Edu has also been a revelation -- one of the more consistent players wearing the flag, in fact -- but a steadier hand beside and behind him is also a must.
Overall height
Belangel, Abarrientos, Gomez de Liano, and Matt Nieto may be top-flight young guards in the Philippines, but they remain shorter-than-average in international play.
Yes, the world meet has proven that having the likes of Angola's Childe Dundao (5-foot-6) and Japan's Yuki Kawamura (5-8) isn't necessarily a detriment -- as long as the team has bigger, lengthier, and rangier players on the floor to make up for any defensive shortcomings.
Gilas doesn't have that luxury, though, as aside from an undersized backcourt, their wings in Ramos, Ravena, Ildefonso, and Rhenz Abando are also smaller.
That being said, there's indeed a possibility that Baldwin's team -- especially counting on its enviable continuity -- would have fared better against Dominican Republic, Angola, and Italy.
That's the key word, however: possibility.
It's far from a certainty that simply replacing Reyes with Baldwin and his long-term squad will be the remedy to whatever ails the Philippine national team.
If ever, adding Fajardo to a big core of Edu, Sotto, and Tamayo, as well as Ravena and Scottie Thompson getting to mentor the young guns would've been a good compromise.
What's for sure is, after all is said and done, at FIBA World Cup 2023, Philippines will yet again realize where it's at on the world stage.
And it's high time to find solutions that would allow Gilas to move forward and onward.