Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin said the postponement of the FIBA Asia Cup which was supposed to take place this month in Jakarta, Indonesia has its advantages and disadvantages.
The continental tournament was supposed to take place this week but was moved to next year after COVID-19 cases increased due to the Delta variant.
For Baldwin, the rescheduling of the FIBA Asia Cup not only allows Gilas to have more preparation time but it also means that the team will have a stacked schedule for 2022.
“Having more time for us to prepare is not a bad thing,” Baldwin said in the Power and Play program of ex-PBA commissioner Noli Eala. “We need practice more than games, but we need games as well and we need to keep these playrs motivated.
“(But) what it really does (Asia Cup postponement) is it really puts us in an extremely heavy schedule in 2022,” added Baldwin, mentioning the FIBA World Cup Qualifier windows, the Asia Cup, Asian Games and the Southeast Asian Games.
“So we have a full schedule (for 2022) which is exciting, but it also means that we got a lot of work to do to get prepared for that. But it’s a great way heading into 2023 which is the World Cup year. We gonna get a lot of information, a lot of preparation and it’s exactly what we need so we’re looking forward to it.”
Gilas was coming off a stint in the King Abdullah Cup in Amman, Jordan, a tournament that was initially a final build-up for the Asia Cup prior to the postponement.
The national cagers wound up finishing fourth during the tourney that started by posting two wins in four matches.
Gilas fell to Egypt in its opening assignment but wound up defeating Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, the latter being an overtime thriller before losing twice to host Jordan, including the semis.
They later lost to Tunisia in a battle for third place.