Gilas Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin believes the absence of PBA players is an opportunity to help the youngsters develop while inside the training bubble in Calamba, Laguna.

Baldwin opted to look at the bright side instead of sulking on not having the presence of pros, who didn’t take part in the bubble at the Inspire Sports Academy due to conflict with the PBA’s planned calendar for the 46th season.

“Not having the PBA players — everytime that happens — that is a setback to the Gilas program because ultimately, we always hope that we get an injection of talent, and very often we do,” Baldwin said on Noli Eala’s program Power and Play.

“But we don’t always need them for the extensive training that we’re doing in the bubble. So we don’t look at it as a setback, we look at it as an opportunity to focus on these younger players to build them for the future, and then we hope that the PBA calendar allows us significant access to the PBA players when they are allowed to come in.

“But it’s not three, four days or a week before the competition. We need more significant than that. We just have to play that by ear and appreciate what the PBA is trying to do as well. As long as we have mutual appreciation for one another's businesses, I think we're gonna be fine,” he added.

A mixture of members of the Gilas pool, Ateneo players and a few collegiate standouts are currently in Calamba for the latest training bubble being held in preparation for the third window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The previous training bubble, which was supposed to be used as preparation for the since-delayed Asia Cup Qualifiers, had six PBA players in Calamba, namely Kiefer Ravena, RR Pogoy, CJ Perez, Troy Rosario, Justin Chua and Raul Soyud.

The six spent about a month with the Gilas pool until a decision was made by Doha to cancel the hosting of the third window last month due to the COVID-19 situation.