Pinoy among coaching imports

CHANGSHA – There’s a Filipino among six foreign coaches at the FIBA Asia Championships here starting today. He’s Paul Advincula who was once on coach Boysie Zamar’s staff at the University of the East and now calls the shots for Malaysia.

Advincula, 51, took Malaysia to second place at the recent SEABA Championships and booked a ticket to the FIBA Asia Championships where the winner will represent Asia at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The other foreign coaches are Serbia’s Rajko Toroman for Jordan, Germany’s Dirk Bauermann for Iran, American Jerry Steele for Palestine, Greece’s Vasilis Fragias for Qatar, American Tab Baldwin for the Philippines, Serbia’s Veselin Matic for Lebanon and Advincula.

At the 2013 FIBA Asia edition in Manila, the foreign coaches were Serbia’s Sasa Nikitovic for Bahrain, Greece’s Panagiotis Giannakis for China, American Scott Flemming for India, Slovenia’s Memi Becirovic for Iran, Greece’s Evangelos Alexandris for Jordan, Italy’s Matteo Boniciolli for Kazakhstan, American Tom Wisman for Qatar and Serbia’s Nenad Krdzic.

Toroman, 60, has been the most successful of the coaches in FIBA Asia. He led Iran to the 2007 title and earned a ticket for the national team to the 2008 Olympics. Toroman honed his skills as an assistant coach with the Yugoslavian national squad and later coached in Poland, Belgium, Holland, Cyprus, Hungary and China.

Baldwin, 57, brought New Zealand to the semifinals of the 2002 FIBA World Cup. He also coached at the FIBA World Cup in 2006 for New Zealand and in 2010 for Lebanon. His biggest moment came when he led Jordan to an 88-84 win over Iran at the 2011 FIBA Asia Championships. Baldwin also once coached Malaysia so his resume is packed with progress reports from all over the globe.

Matic, 55, was the Polish and Iranian national team coach before taking over the Lebanon reins in 2009. Bauermann, 57, has coached in Germany, Belgium, Greece, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. NBA star Dirk Nowitzki was on the German national squad that Bauermann piloted to eighth place of 24 at the 2006 FIBA World Cup and to 10th of 12 at the 2008 Olympics. Fragias, 54, will make his debut as a national team coach with Qatar. He has coached in Cyprus, Greece and Ukraine.

The Philippines’ easy draw in the first round may not be a blessing after all. A FIBA official said the other day it could backfire on Gilas because if the Philippines finishes first or second out of Groups A and B, its opponent from Groups C and D in the knockout quarterfinals could be extremely dangerous. The lightweight contenders in the preliminaries may not prepare the Philippines for the grind ahead.

Group A is made up of Iran, Japan, Malaysia and India. Group B is composed of the Philippines, Palestine, Kuwait and Hong Kong. Making up Group C are South Korea, Jordan, Singapore and China. Finally, Chinese-Taipei, Lebanon, Qatar and Kazakhstan will play out of Group D. The top three finishers of each group advance to the second round. The top four from Groups A-B and the top four from Groups C-D move on to battle in the knockout quarterfinals. Four survivors will face off in crossover pairings in the semifinals where the winners will dispute the vacant throne.

Because Groups C and D are loaded with tough teams, the Philippines must be ready to eventually face the fast and the furious. From Groups A and B, the shoo-ins to advance to the knockout quarterfinals are Iran, the Philippines and Japan. From Groups C and D, the teams with high hopes of moving forward are South Korea, Jordan, China, Chinese-Taipei, Lebanon, Qatar and Kazakhstan. That means if Gilas finishes No. 2 behind Iran, it will battle No. 3 from Groups C and D. It’s a situation where three countries are shoo-ins for four slots in Groups A and B while seven teams are jockeying for position for four tickets in Groups C and D. “Any of those seven countries could be No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 3 or No. 4 so Gilas will find it tough to battle No.3 in the knockout quarterfinals,” a FIBA Asia official said.      

For a team like Jordan, the expectations are low because Toroman is in a tight fix right from the opening tip. Toroman’s key players Zaid Abbas and Sam Daghles are still getting acquainted with new naturalized player Alex Legion. In the preliminaries, Jordan is tipped to win only over Singapore – whether it’s well-prepared or not. “Even if Jordan plays above average on a man-for-man basis, there’s just no way it can beat China and South Korea,” said the official. “If Jordan plays a poor game, the result will be the same. Since Singapore isn’t expected to win a single game, a 1-2 record will be enough to advance Jordan to the second round. That will put pressure on Jordan to win at least two of its next three games so it’s assured of a place in the knockout quarterfinals.”