Philippines men's national basketball team

The men's national basketball team of the Philippines represents the Philippines in international basketball competitions. It is managed by its national basketball federation, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (Basketball Federation of the Philippines or simply SBP). The team won a bronze medal in the 1954 FIBA World Championship for men, the best finish of any team outside the Americas and Europe, and a fifth-place finish in the 1936 Summer Olympics, the best performance by a team outside the Americas, Europe and Oceania.

The current national team, nicknamed "Team Pilipinas" (Team Philippines) or "Smart Gilas Pilipinas," is sponsored by Smart Communications and is currently coached by Rajko Toroman.

Aside from the bronze medal at the World Championships and the fifth-place Olympic finish, the Philippines has won five FIBA Asian Championships for Men, four Asian Games Men's Basketball gold medals and a consistent winner at the Southeast Asian Games and at the Southeast Asia Basketball Association. The country has also participated in four FIBA World Championships and seven Olympic Basketball Tournaments.

History

The Philippines dominated the Far Eastern Games and the Southeast Asian Games but only partially dominate the Asian Games and FIBA Asia Championship with rivals like Israel, (South) Korea, Lebanon, Japan and especially China.

Early years

The Philippines first participated in international basketball in the Far Eastern Championship Games from 1913 to 1934, winning all but one (1921) championship. The games were not under the supervision of FIBA at that time. The Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) was founded in 1936, and became a part of FIBA later that year. Also in the same year, the BAP sent a team nicknamed "the Islanders" that participated in the first Olympic basketball tournament in Los Angeles. With the tournament under a single-elimination tournament from the third game onwards, the Philippines won their first three games only to face the United States in their fourth game. The USA doubled the Philippines' score as they advanced to the next round. The Philippines wound up fifth place in the best finish by an Asian team in Olympic basketball history.

The Philippines returned to the 1948 Olympics in London. The team finished fourth of six teams in their group to be eliminated. The team wound up in tenth place. The Philippines had to go through a qualifying tournament to enter the main draw of the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. Defeating Hungary and Israel, the Filipinos were grouped with Argentina, Brazil and Canada; with their only win against Canada, the team was eliminated and finished tied for 9th.

In the 1950s–1960s, the Philippines was among the best in the world, producing world-class players like Carlos Loyzaga, Lauro Mumar, Mariano Tolentino and Edgardo Ocampo. Loyzaga was even a part of the 1954 FIBA World Championship Mythical Team selection, where the Philippines won the bronze medal. The Philippines finished second of their group behind Brazil and ahead of Paraguay to enter the final round, where the team only lost against the USA by thirteen points. The Philippines' performance is the best performance by an Asian team in the world championship.

By virtue of their third place finish, the team qualified for the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne. In the preliminaries, the team finish second behind the USA to enter the quarterfinals, where the team finished last suffering losses against France, Uruguay and Chile. The Filipinos and the Chileans met again in the classification round, in which the Filipinos won to clinch seventh place.

The Philippines will again participate in the 1959 FIBA World Championship. However, in a virtual elimination game, Puerto Rico eliminated the Philippines to deny a final round berth. The Philippines finished eighth, the best among the classification round teams.

Birth of the Asian championships

Starting in 1960, the Asian Basketball Championship was held to determine Asia's participants in the Olympics and the World Championships. Qualifying for the Asian Championship was by zone; in this case, with the Philippines being the strongest team in Southeast Asia, the country will qualify easily for the continental championship. The inaugural Asian Championship was held in Manila.

In the first four editions of the Asian Championship, the Philippines won three titles, the only loss coming from Japan in Kuala Lumpur, during the third championship. The Japanese scored a 71–65 win in the final group; the Philippines earlier won against them in the preliminary round by 20 points.

With an Asian Championship, the Philippines qualified for the 1960 Olympics. In Rome, the Philippines did not qualify for the medal round, but did beat Spain in the preliminaries, ultimately finishing 11th out of 16 nations. The country was supposed to host the 1963 World Championships, but President Diosdado Macapagal refused to allow players from Yugoslavia and other communist countries to enter the country. This caused the Philippines, despite winning the Asian Championships, to qualify via a pre-Olympic tournament, in which they were unsuccessful.^[1]

In the fifth championship at Bangkok, the Philippines finished third, after a one-point loss against Japan, and an 86–95 loss against (South) Korea. The Asian Games tournaments were worse, as the Philippines was not able to finish in the top four during the 1960s. In the 1971 Asian Championship, the game against the Japanese turned out to be the deciding game, and the Japanese won anew, 93–69. Despite the loss, the team qualified to the Olympics in Munich where the Philippines barely missed the cellar after a six-point win against Senegal. The Munich Massacre occurred, and with Egypt leaving in protest, the Philippines avenged their loss against the Japanese with a 80–73 classification round win to finish 13th place. The next day, the controversial gold medal game against the USA and the Soviet Union was held, in which the Soviets won, breaking the Americans' championship streak since 1936. This will be the last Olympic appearance of the Philippines to date.

The next Asian championship at Manila ended triumphantly for the Filipinos, as they won the championship, beating the Japanese and the Koreans handily. The championship earned the Filipinos a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the 1974 FIBA World Championship, in which they were grouped with the United States. The Philippines finished win-less in the preliminaries, but managed to win twice in the classification round to avoid a last place finish.

Creation of the Philippine Basketball Association

In 1975, after disputes with the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP), nine teams pulled out of BAP's jurisdiction and founded the professional Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), taking along all the best players with them. This caused the BAP to send weakened teams in the subsequent international tournaments. This caused the Filipinos to fail to defend their Asian championship in 1975, with India earning a shock blowout win to deny the Philippines a top-4 finish. The Chinese won the championship, beginning their unbeaten championship run that will last into 1983.

In 1978, the country finally hosted the World Championships, but with the best players playing in the PBA, the Philippines finished dead last in the final group, and were blown out by Australia in the playoff for seventh place. The final went into overtime, with Yugoslavia eking out a 1-point win against the Soviet Union. This is the last appearance of the Philippines in the World Championship to date.

To offset the loss of players to the PBA, the BAP delegated to Danding Cojuangco the formation of a team that will train together for several months, in essence, a club team unaffiliated with any league. The result was the Northern Cement basketball team coached by the American Ron Jacobs that had four naturalized players. In the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, the team finished fourth behind Korea, China and Japan. In the 1983 Asian Championship in Hong Kong, the Philippines forfeited their preliminary round games after a misunderstanding the rules caused the Philippines to play more than one naturalized player on the floor at the time. The Philippines, without their naturalized players, made short work of the classification round to finish in ninth place.

Future PBA stars such as Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim and Hector Calma remained a part of the Northern Cement team, and competed in the 1985 Asian Championship in Kuala Lumpur. The Philippines won by more than 10 points in the all of their preliminary round games, including a 17-point win against Japan, knocking them out of the tournament. In the final group, the Philippines won by four points against Korea and ten points against Malaysia to set up a de facto championship gambruaryagainst China. The Philippines won by ten points to claim the Asian Championship and qualify for the 1986 FIBA World Championship.

On February 22, 1986, the People Power Revolution erupted and forced president Ferdinand Marcos into exile. Cojuangco, a known ally of Marcos, also left the country, causing the team not to participate in the World Championship. The team did participate in the 1986 Asian Games, finishing third behind China and Korea.

Professional era

In 1989, FIBA allowed professionals to play in their tournaments. This caused the BAP to have an agreement with the PBA in which the latter will form national teams for the Asian Games, while the former will do so in other tournaments. In the 1989 Southeast Asian Games, the BAP-sponsored team suffered a shock loss to Malaysia in the gold medal game, the only time the Philippines failed to win the gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games in which basketball was played.

In 1990, the Philippines sent an all-pro national team, coached by Robert Jaworski, to regain the country's basketball supremacy in the Asian Games but the team lost in the final against China and settled for a silver medal. The team includes 1990 PBA Most Valuable Player Allan Caidic and Samboy Lim, who were both selected in the Asian Games Mythical Five Selections.

In the 1991 Asian Championship in Kobe, Japan, the Philippines finished second in their preliminary round group behind China, but a loss against Japan caused their elimination, ending up in seventh place, when Jordan forfeited the game. In 1993, the Philippines failed to qualify in the quarterfinal groups, suffering losses against Korea (five points) and the UAE (four points) en route to an 11th place finish.

In the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, the Philippines, coached by the American Norman Black, sent in a team composed of PBA players and selected amateurs. The team finish second in the preliminary round, losing to Korea. The loss to Korea meant that the Philippines has to face China; despite losing, the Chinese had their slimmest winning margin in the tournament with nine points, en route to their gold medal. The Philippines were upended by the hosts Japan in the bronze medal game, losing by three points in overtime.

With no PBA players on the roster, the team on the 1995 Asian Championship in Seoul finished last in the preliminary round, but managed to win two games in the classification round to finish 12th out of 19 teams. The team that went to Riyadh for the ABC Championship 1997 did only marginally better; they still finished last in the preliminary round but topped the classification round group en route to a ninth place finish.

In 1998, the PBA formed the Philippine Centennial Team coached by the American Tim Cone that captured the 21st William Jones Cup championship but finished with the bronze medal in the 1998 Asian Games held in Bangkok. The Filipinos faced their old nemesis Korea in the quarterfinals and were blown out by twenty points, which lead them to face China in the semifinals anew. The result would be the same as four years earlier, with the Chinese winning by nine. The Filipinos won the bronze medal game though, against Kazakhstan.

In the 1999 Asian Championship in Fukuoka, Japan, the Philippines, with no PBA players on their roster, finished last in the preliminary round, and second in the classification round to finish 11th out of 15 teams. In Shanghai for the 2001 Asian Championship, the Philippines was suspended by FIBA due to leadership disputes at the BAP. This caused the country to miss their first Asian championship. By 2002, a compromise was sorted out, and the Philippines was allowed to participate in the 2002 Asian Games, coached by Jong Uichico.

In Busan, South Korea, the Philippines easily qualified for the quarterfinals, in which they are grouped with China, Japan and Chinese Taipei. The Philippines won by five points against Japan, and 14 points against Chinese Taipei. The game against China wasn't as close, with the Philippines losing by 41 points, but this assured that they won't have to face China in the semifinals. For the third consecutive time, the Filipinos and Koreans faced in the semifinals, with the same result: the Koreans won over the Philippines, this time by one point. Up by two points, Olsen Racela missed two free throws, that led to a Korean three-pointer at the buzzer to eliminate the Filipinos. The team would lose in the bronze medal game against Kazakhstan by 2 points as Korea defeated China in overtime by a basket to win Asian Games gold for the first time since 1970.

With no PBA players in the roster, the 2003 Asian Championship in Harbin will be the worst performance by the team in history: a 15th place finish out of 16 teams. Unlike in 1997 and 1999, the Philippines had one win in the preliminary round (against Jordan). However, in the classification round, the Philippines emerged winless in a group containing Syria, Kuwait and Hong Kong. Only a blow out win against Malaysia saved the Philippines from dropping to the cellar. After the championship, BAP was heavily criticized and took steps to strengthen the team. However, after a loss against the Parañaque Jets, a team composed of politicians, actors and amateurs by the BAP-managed team, another leadership crisis in the BAP ensued which caused another suspension from FIBA. As a result, the Philippines was not able to participate in the FIBA Asia Championship 2005 and the 2006 Asian Games.

SBP era

After the conclusion of the leadership struggle that saw the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), an organization backed by the PBA among others, being recognized by both FIBA and the Philippine Olympic Committee, the Philippines was reinstated by FIBA. In the hastily-assembled team for the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship in Tokushima, the PBA-backed Philippine team defeated China, which didn't send their best team since they already qualified for the 2008 Olympics, but lost to Iran and Jordan to bow out of contention. The Filipinos and Chinese met again for the ninth place game in which the Filipinos won by two points.

With Yeng Guiao coaching for the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship in Tianjin, the Philippines won their first two games, against Sri Lanka and Japan, but with qualification for the eighth-finals certain, they were beaten by Korea to settle second in the preliminary round. In the eighth-finals, the team defeated Chinese Taipei and Kuwait, but were beaten by defending champions Iran to send the team into a quarterfinal match-up with Jordan. The Jordanians prevailed, and the Philippines lost two more consecutive classification games, the last to Korea, to settle for eighth place.

Following the Northern Cement model of the 1980, the SBP formed Smart Gilas, backed by Manuel V. Pangilinan, as a developmental team that aims to qualify in the 2012 Olympics. In the 2010 Asian Games, the Filipinos met the Korean team anew in the quarterfinals and was eliminated. In the 2011 championship at Wuhan, the team progressed up to the semifinals for the first time since 1987. Meeting Jordan, the team never recovered after a third quarter run by the Jordanians. In the bronze medal game against Korea with a berth to an Olympic qualifying tournament at stake, the team raced to an early lead, but the Koreans cut the lead and eventually won the game after the Filipinos missed free-throws at the end game. Despite missing an Olympic berth, Smart Gilas' performance was the best finish in the championship since 1987, and the best finish in any major Asian competition since 2002.

FIBA suspensions

1963

In 1963, FIBA suspended the Philippines for its failure to stage the 1963 FIBA World Championship after President Diosdado Macapagal refused to allow players from Yugoslavia and other communist countries to enter the country. Later, the Philippines, despite being the Asian champion, was forced to play in a pre-Olympic tournament in order to qualify in the 1964 Summer Olympics.^[1]

2001

The Basketball Association of the Philippines leadership crisis worsened after a lengthy feud between the group of Graham Lim and Tiny Literal and the group of Freddie Jalasco and Lito Puyat which resulted in FIBA's suspension of the basketball NSA.

However, a few months after, FIBA stepped-in and ordered an election that resulted in Literal's victory as the President of the BAP. The suspension was quickly lifted and the Philippines was able to compete in the Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia.^[1]

2005–2007

The Philippines was suspended by the International Basketball Federation on July 2005 after a long standing feud between the Philippine Olympic Committee and the BAP.

The story began on April 10, 2005, when the BAP-sponsored Cebuana-Lhuillier Philippine National team (composed of little-known amateur players) lost to a lowly Parañaque Jets team (made up of showbiz personalities) in an NBC Preseason tournament at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. After hearing the news, POC President Jose "Peping" Cojuangco called for improvements on the national team, most notably, the sending of a new team made up of professionals from the Philippine Basketball Association.

While both parties, with the involvement of the Philippine Basketball Association, the Philippine Basketball League, the UAAP and the NCAA, reportedly agreed on an agreement on the formation of a new national team, things soon returned to the usual verbal war. The POC, through a vote, first suspended, then in a later meeting, expelled the BAP as the official National Sports Association (NSA) member and installed a new member in the Philippine Basketball Federation. The BAP, under new President Joey Lina, said that the expulsion was unconstitutional in the by-laws of the POC.

The situation worsened when both parties still could not agree on who will banner the national team for the Southeast Asian Basketball Association tournament, a qualifier for the FIBA Asia tournament in Doha, Qatar. FIBA Secretary-General Patrick Baumann, then handed the suspension of the RP team from any FIBA-sanctioned tournament.

In hopes of securing a long-term solution, FIBA, in a memorandum, ordered the PBA, PBL, UAAP, NCAA and Joey Lina (as a person or in Lina's claim, as a representative of the BAP) to form a new constitution or a formation of a new basketball body.

By March 2006, four stakeholders have signed into the propose new basketball body, which later named as Pilipinas Basketball. Lina, however, has refused to sign on the memorandum, citing unbalanced factors that was put in the draft for a new body. After the four stakeholders met with Baumann in South Korea, the suspension was not even lifted nor was the draft for a new body was even accepted since Lina has not signed it.

However, in a significant move by both Pilipinas Basketball and the BAP at the FIBA Congress in Japan, both parties signed an agreement that will pave the way for the formation of a new cage body on or before September 30. The deadline lapsed and no significant moves had been made until February 5, 2007.^[1]

After several meetings between FIBA Secretary-General Patrick Baumann, PB, and BAP officials in Geneva and Bangkok, a Unity Congress was held in which BAP, PB and Baumann attended. The BAP and PB agreed to merge to create the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) as the new national federation. The Philippine Olympic Committee recognized the group as the new national governing body for basketball, after which the FIBA finally lifted the almost two-year-old suspension it imposed upon the country.

Competitions

Current squad

Depth Chart

Coaches

Notable players

(Past and Present)

(Alphabetical Order by Surnames)

Johnny Abarrientos: Philippine basketball's and Asia's best point guard of the 1990s. Abarrientos played for the Philippines in the 1991 Southeast Asian Games and the 1994 Asian Games. He was later selected to play for the Philippine Centennial Team to represent the country in the 1998 Asian Games and the 21st William Jones Cup. Abarrientos was named Most Valuable Player in an exhibition game against the FIBA Asia All-Stars team led by compatriot Romel Adducul.

Allan Caidic: Asia's most feared three-point shooter and arguably one of the greatest players ever to play for the Philippines internationally. He is a four-time veteran of the Asian Games (1986, 1990, 1994, 1998) and a two-time William Jones Cup champion (1985, 1998). Early in his career, Caidic played a major role for the Philippines in capturing the 1985 Southeast Asian Games and the 1985–1986 FIBA Asia Championship. In 1990, he and Samboy Lim were named at the Asian Games Mythical Five Selection after leading the Philippines to a silver medal finished. In 1994, he was the Asian Games basketball tournament's leading scorer and was named, for the second time, to the all-tournament Mythical Five selection. In 1998, he represented the country for the final time with the Philippine Centennial Team.

Robert Jaworski: The world's oldest professional basketball player and arguably the Philippines' most popular basketball player of all time. He represented the country in numerous international tournaments and is one of the last surviving Filipino basketball players to play in the FIBA World Championship and the Summer Olympics.

Samboy Lim: He represented the Philippines in the 1982 Asian Youth Championship and in the 1985–1986 FIBA Asia Championship. He was later named alongside Allan Caidic into the 1990 Asian Games Mythical Five selection after leading the national team to the finals.

Carlos Loyzaga: Probably the greatest Filipino international basketball player of all time. He led the Philippines to four consecutive Asian Games gold medals and three Asian championship titles. His biggest achievement was leading the country to a third place finish and the bronze medal in the 1954 FIBA World Championship, the best finish by an Asian country in the history of the quadrennial tournament. He was later named into the all-tournament Mythical Five selection after finishing third leading scorer of that year's tournament. In 1960, he and Carlos Badion were named at the Asian Basketball Confederation Mythical Five Selection after leading the Philippines to the first ever Asian championship crown.

Ambrosio Padilla: One of the greatest Filipino basketball players of the pre-World War II era. He played for the Philippines in the Far Eastern Games before leading the country to a fifth place finish in the 1936 Summer Olympics, the best finish by an Asian country in the history of the Summer Olympics men's basketball tournament.

Luis "Lou" Salvador: One of the offensive players in Philippine basketball history. Salvador played for the Philippines in several Far Eastern Games tournaments where, in 1923, he set an all-time record for the most points scored by a Filipino in a single international game with 116 points against China to lead the Philippines to the gold medal. That record remains unbroken to this day.

Latest scores

2011 FIBA Asia championship

First round Group D

Second round Group F

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

3rd place

Southeast Asia Basketball Association Championship 2011

References

External links

• PBA Official website
• Smart Gilas Roster
• Team Pilipinas News Update Site
• Philippine Olympic Committee Website
• Smart Gilas Basketball News and Updates
• SBP Official website
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