It is the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles that the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team has been targeting all along, not Paris.
In an interview on “Hardball with Bill Velasco” on dwAN 1206 AM, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Erika Dy revealed that making it to Paris was just a possibility, but not the end goal.
“It was really a four-year program by coach Tim (Cone) for Gilas,” admitted Dy. “But he saw the opportunity to make it to Paris, so we tried.”
In the final FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Latvia a month ago, the Philippines lost to Brazil in the game that would have sent them closer to the Olympics. Dy says that among their learnings was deciding to have a complete roster next time. Gilas went into the FIBA OQT with only 11 players due to injuries.
“In our review and post-mortem right after, we went over the other things that could have been done,” the Columbia University alum added. “Personally, I feel we could have sent a twelfth player. That’s still another warm body who could have helped.”
The team will prepare for the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers Window 2 to be held at the Mall of Asia Arena in November. The Philippines takes on New Zealand on Nov. 21 and Hong Kong on Nov. 24. The match against the Kiwis will be the acid test for Gilas to beat a team from the FIBA Oceania region. Dy also said that the plan is to keep the team intact and qualify for LA as early as possible, hopefully the year before. It appears that this time, they are doing everything right. We hope this time is the charm.