Philippine National Basketball Team

[dark_phoenix]

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oi!..future star center of phil basketball si fafa greggy slawter!!!....wakekekek....needs improvement...ya^ya pa kau mu lihok.....

[skadiboy]

GS must learn to defend and bang bodies. to be of help to the national team, he must control the boards and be quick to react in providing help defense.

GS doesn't even have to score to be effective d kaau kosog mo gunit og bola patapikan man daun...
he has to learn to score on drop-off passes and offensive rebounds.

he should have a short range jumpshot...

GS daghan dyd e improved.... pati sa paglakaw pod ehehehe

[skadiboy]

The 20th Edition of the FIBA Asia Junior Championship is going to be held in Iran from August 28 through September 5. The draw for the competition was recently held at the Azadi Basketball Hall. The tourney will enjoy the participation of sixteen teams. They were divided into 4 preliminary groups. China, Japan, Hong Kong and India got into Group A. Group B comprised South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Syria. Chinese Taipei, Philippines, UAE and Lebanon got into Group C. Finally hosting Iran, Malaysia, Jordan and Uzbekistan made up for Group D. China celebrated the victory in the 19th edition of the competition held in Urumqi City.

Group A: China, Hong Kong, India, Japan
Group B: South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Syria
Group C: Chinese Taipei, Philippines, UAE, Lebanon
Group D: Iran, Malaysia, Jordan, Uzbekistan

[skadiboy]

The Lithuanians are coming
SPORTS FOR ALL By Philip Ella Juico
Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The RP Nokia Youth team will be playing in the four-nation Nokia Manila Youth Invitational Basketball Championships (Nokia MY IBC) from Aug. 14 to 17. The tournament is sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and has the financial and organizational back up of Nokia Philippines and the TAO Corp. Joining the tournament, to be held at the Cuneta Astrodome and the Philsports Arena in Pasig City, are Chinese-Taipei, China, Lithuania and the reigning SEABA Youth champion, the RP Nokia Youth team coached by multi-titled mentor, Franz Pumaren.

The four-day joust serves as preparation for the RP team which qualified to join the Asian youth championship from Aug. 28 to Sept. 5, 2008 in Tehran, Iran. It will be one of the final preparations of the team which regained the SEABA championship on May 5 in Kuala Lumpur by an average margin of 40 points.

For the last several months, the team has been practicing three hours a day, six times a week, in a bid to make up for setbacks encountered by various Philippine teams in international competitions. The last time a national youth team made a real mark in Asian-level competitions was in 1982 when the under-18 squad won the Asian championships in Manila. The team had Ron Jacobs for its coach and was bannered by, among others, Derick Pumaren, older brother of Franz.

The presence of world basketball power Lithuania has raised the level of competition by several rungs and is, in the words of Franz, “good preparation for Tehran since we will be up against tall players there and Lithuania is one of the world’s most powerful and talented basketball countries.” The coming of the Lithuanians has therefore created quite a bit of excitement among sports enthusiasts and could very well provide a counter balance to the expected news juggernaut that the Beijing Olympics will create from Aug. 8 to 25.

I had the privilege of inviting the Lithuanians through Romualdas Vildzius, consul of Lithuania to the Philippines. Vildzius is an American-educated (B.S. Foreign Service, magna cum laude graduate of Georgetown University and MA in Finance from Columbia University) businessman who is a permanent resident of the Philippines and a certified basketball fan.

When Vildzius expressed deep interest in the Lithuanian visit, I immediately obtained the thumbs up from both TAO Corp. CEO Jun Sy and Nokia, through Sy himself who has always displayed impeccable prudence and care in protecting the good name of the telecoms giant. After a few days, Vildzius asked another basketball fanatic, fellow Lithuanian Andrius Markevicius, to help in promoting the team’s historic visit to the Philippines.

I met Vildzius for the first time in August 1995 when both of us joined the delegation of the official visit of then President Fidel V. Ramos to Australia and New Zealand. I represented the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) as its chairman while Vildzius formed part of the private sector business group that President Ramos brought with him. I was there to meet with the PSC counterpart, the Australian Sport Commission, and the Australian Institute of Sport, the model I looked at when the Philippine Institute of Sports was created during my PSC tenure.

As early as that time, Vildzius and I started planning on bringing a national basketball team from Lithuania. Like the Philippines (and surprisingly, Lebanon), the most popular sport in Lithuania is basketball, and not soccer as normally expected in a European country. This version of basketball diplomacy was therefore 13 years in the making.

During our many conversations in Australia, Vildzius said both the Philippines and Lithuania fought valiantly to break free from authoritarian rule. There were tears in Vildzius eyes as he narrated the events leading to Lithuania’s declaration of renewed independence from its erstwhile occupier, the Soviet Union, on March 11, 1990. Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare its independence and thus pave the way for freedom movements that precipitated the dismemberment of the USSR.

Like the Philippines, Lithuania has been occupied by a number of foreign invaders and homegrown despots and is considered part of Northern Europe. It has been ruled at varying times by Russia and Nazi Germany.

Lithuania, which has a population of 3.4 million, has produced basketball greats like Pranas Lubinas (known as Lubi and called the grandfather of Lithuanian basketball) who popularized the sport in Lithuania in the late 1930’s; Arvydas Sabonis, who helped Lithuania win bronze medals in the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and Sarunas Marciulionis, a vital cog in the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics team of Lithuania and the 1995 European championships where Lithuania won the silver medal. Last Friday, Lithuania won the silver medal in the European championships after beating Turkey, 82-74.

[skadiboy]

RP, Lithuania mull cage pact
By Nelson Beltran
Friday, August 15, 2008

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), under the leadership of business mogul Manny Pangilinan, is in the process of forging a *****eral agreement with its Lithuanian counterpart that would allow Filipino players, coaches and trainers to train in Lithuania.

Officials of the Philippine and Lithuanian cage federations made initial talks during the inaugurals of the Manila Youth Basketball Invitational Championship featuring the junior men’s teams of the Philippines, Lithuania, China and Chinese Taipei.

The Filipinos, the Chinese and the Taiwanese are gearing up for the FIBA-Asia junior men’s championship slated Aug. 28-Sept. 5 in Tehran, Iran. The Lithuanians, on the other hand, have just finished second in the European tourney.

SBP officials believe Lithuania, among the world powers in basketball, could well be a good training ground for Filipino players.

Lithuania won the bronze medal in the 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The initial proposal is for Lithuanian coaches to train Filipino players and, in exchange, the Philippines will purchase Lithuania’s latest basketball analysis software which gives detailed assessment of the team’s strategy and player’s individual performance.

“The Lithuanians take pride in their IT industry. We can benefit from that software plus we can avail ourselves of training in Lithuania,” said SBP executive director Noli Eala.

Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei used a sleek running game to upset China, 88-75, in the opener of the four-day invitational tourney presented by Tao Corp.

[skadiboy]

RP national team


Lithuania


China NT


Chinese Taipei NT

[skadiboy]

Young Philippine cagers crush Taiwanese

By June Navarro
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:01:00 08/16/2008
Games Saturday (Cuneta Astrodome)
5 p.m. — Lithuania vs Chinese-Taipei
7 p.m. — China vs Philippines

MANILA, Philippines—Holding its cards close to its chest, the Philippines showed only a fraction of its strength.

On the other end, Chinese-Taipei acted as if it doesn’t have anything in its arsenal at all.

“They are trying to hide something for us,” said Philippine head coach Franz Pumaren after the Nokia-Philippines Youth Team shackled Taipei, 84-66, Fridayt night in the Manila Youth Basketball Invitational Championship.

It’s understandable. Taipei and the Philippines are bunched together with Lebanon and United Arab Emirates in Group C of the FIBA-Asia Junior Men’s Championships in Iran set to fire off less than two weeks from now.

“I think Taipei didn’t play its real game. They hardly ran any plays,” said Pumaren.

In the first game, Lithuania rolled to its second straight win with a 68-55 win over China. The Lithuanians blasted the Filipinos Thursday night, 79-54.

Trailing at 25-20, Taipei simply allowed the Philippine team to break free with several fast-break plays and open perimeter shots that widened the gap, 48-37, at the half.

Ryan Garcia, Filipino-Canadian Matthew Wright and Mark Joel De Guzman raised the lead to 75-56 in the dying minutes.

RP 84 — Wright 19, De Guzman 18, Garcia 24, Marata 10, Banal 7, Torres 6, Golia 4, Mendoza 4, Paredes 4, Sangalang 2, Tolentino 2, Manguera 0.

TAIWAN 66 — Lee 17, Chou 12, Shih 11, Tsui 6, Chung 6, Chang 4, Lin Yung-Hao 3, Lin Wei-han 3, Lin Wei-Jen 2, Li 2.

Quarters: 25-20, 48-37, 64-54, 84-66.

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They (CT) are not the only ones who's hiding something. I think Franz Pumaren realized this during the half and decided to call-off most of our plays because it's unnecessary when your opponent is letting you win on purpose.

From the way the scoreboard tells us, it seems that only Wright, Garcia and Marata were the only ones doing the offensive chores, unlike in the game against Lithuania where Wright, Banal, Torres, and Marata combined to keep the game close. Everyone else must've been stationed in defense.

If they were hiding players, they surely did not hide Chou Po Chen who, according to rhk111, was explosive in their first game.
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[skadiboy]

SCORE LIST: RESULT

DAY 1:
TEAM CHINA def. by TEAM Chinese TAIPEE
75-88

TEAM phillippines def by TEAM LITHUANIA
54-79

DAY 2
TEAM LITHUANIA def TEAM CHINA
68-55

TEAM Chinese Taipei def by TEAM phillippines
66-84

Day 3
TEAM LITHUANIA def.by TEAM Chinese Taipei
78-84

TEAM CHINA def by TEAM phillippines
56-84


RP Youth Edges China For Third; Lithuania Wins

By June Navarro
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: August 18, 2008

MANILA, Philippines—The Nokia-RP Youth team declared itself ready for the tough battle ahead after downing China, 84-80, Sunday to clinch third place in the four-nation Manila Youth Basketball Invitational Championship at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

While acknowledging that it will be a tall order for his under-18 team to perform well in the FIBA-Asia Junior Men’s Championship set in Tehran, Iran next week, RP coach Franz Pumaren said the mini-tournament was good training for his boys.

“This tournament generally helped us prepare for the FIBA-Asia championships in terms of building the team’s confidence and exposing the players to different opponents outside Southeast Asia,” Pumaren said.

The RP Youth team booked a ticket to the Asian championship scheduled Aug. 25-Sept.5 after topping the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Led by skipper Frank Golia Jr., 6-foot-4 center Norberto Torres, UAAP juniors MVP Samuel Joseph Marata, playmaker Ryan Roose Garcia and wingman Gabriel Banal, the Nationals are bracketed in Group C with Chinese-Taipei, Lebanon and United Arab Emirates.

Pumaren said the Taiwanese would most likely field the same team that his wards subdued, 84-66, Friday night.

“They were trying to hide something from us. They hardly ran any plays at all,” said Pumaren. “At least, we already get to mark their top players.”

A day after the Filipinos dumped the Taiwanese, Chinese-Taipei revealed its top weapon—potent three-point shooting—when it turned back Lithuania in overtime. Chinese-Taipei and Lithuania were still playing in a one-game championship battle at presstime.

Pumaren acknowledged the need to watch out for Taiwanese shooters Lee Ming-hui, Lin Li-jen and Lin Wei-han aside from keeping an eye on the trigger-happy Chang Po-wei and Chou Po-chen.

Pumaren said his coaching staff has yet to scout Lebanon and the UAE.

“I haven’t seen them (Lebanon and UAE) yet. We’re lacking in height but we will offset it with heart and hard work,” said Pumaren, a veteran of many national teams as a player during his prime.

Besides Torres, Pumaren could only choose from among Philip Paredes (6-4), Ian Paul Sangalang (6-5) and Golla (6-3) to man the slot.

His other players are Filipino-Canadian Matthew Wright, Jaypee Mendoza, Mark Joel De Guzman and point guard Joseph Tolentino.

In the FIBA-Asia championships, the top two teams from four groups advance to the quarterfinals. After another round, the best four squads are paired in the crossover semifinals with the winners disputing the championship.

In the championship game, Mantas Kadzevicius erupted for 35 points as Lithuania turned back Chinese-Taipei, 87-73, to rule the four-nation tournament.

The scores:

PHILIPPINES 84—Garcia 20, Wright 18, Mendoza 14, Torres 12, Golia 11, De Guzman 3, Banal 3, Terso 2, Paredes 1, Sangalang 0, Marata 0.
CHINA 80—Ren Junfei 19, He 16, Wang 15, Zhao 14, Cao 7, Ren Junwei 5, Wang Yingliang 4.
Quarters: 23-20, 40-37, 51-60, 84-80

LITHUANIA 87—Kadzevicius 35, Peciukevicius 18, Staniulis 17, Sapiega 12, Milinskas 3, Slezas 2, Gaska 0, Zimnickas 0, Kairys 0.
CHINESE-TAIPEI 73—Lee 20, Chou 16, Chung 12, Chang 11, Lin Li-Jen 6, Shih 5, Lin Wei Han 3, LI 0, Lin Yung-Hao 0.
Quarters: 13-23, 38-39, 73-53, 87-73

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[skadiboy]

RP Youth adjusts time of training for Asia tilt
by June Navarro
Source: INQUIRER.net | August 19, 2008

Still groping for top form it will need against the formidable teams in the FIBA-Asia Junior Men's Championship, the Nokia-RP Youth Team decided to first adjust to the time difference in Iran.

National head coach Franz Pumaren has scheduled practice sessions from 10 in the evening up to 1 in the morning to make sure his players won't feel sleepy and tired when the Philippines starts its Group C campaign against Chinese-Taipei on Aug. 28.

Tehran, the capital of Iran, is three hours and 30 minutes behind Manila time and most, if not all, of the games will be played at night.

"We should get used to the time difference," said Pumaren, whose squad will take on Lebanon on Aug. 29 before wrapping up its elimination-round stint against United Arab Emirates the following day.

Pumaren, a many-time national team guard during his prime in the '80s and '90s, said victory in international play entails proper execution of plays and less mistakes.

"These are the main ingredients to be really competitive," Pumaren noted.

But for a team to win it all, the former PBA star and UAAP champion coach said hard work, dedication and heart are the intangibles that must be included in the formula.

"Representing the country is about pride and passion. Our team might be smaller in terms of height but if we compete with a lot of heart, I believe we could give the opponents a run for their money," said Pumaren.

The De La Salle University coach will pin his hopes on 6-foot-4 Norberto Torres, 6-5 Ian Paul Sangalang, 6-3 skipper Frank Golla Jr. and 6-4 Philip Paredes to man the slot.

Fil-Canadian Matthew Wright, Jaypee Mendoza, Gabriel Banal, Samuel Joseph Marata and Mark Joel De Guzman take care of the wings while Ryan Roose Garcia and Joseph Tolentino will alternate at the point


This reporters are so unreliable. I wish they stop writing stuff they have no certainty about because it's nerve-wrecking sometimes. How on earth is Norberto Torres 6-4 when he is taller than Ford Arao (6'4")? How is Philip Paredes 6'4" when he and Frank Golla are not equal in length?

[skadiboy]

Passion, pride are key elements for RP Youth 5


By FRANCIS SANTIAGO

Proper execution of plays combined with the passion and pride in representing the country will be the elements the RP Youth Team should possess if it wants to make waves in the Asian Youth Championship in Tehran, Iran.

RP Youth mentor Franz Pumaren expressed this view as his team enters the final week of their preparation for the Asian tilt scheduled Aug. 28 to Sept. 5 in Tehran, Iran.

"We need to focus on our execution of plays. It will have a vital role in our campaign. It is an important ingredient to be competitive in international competitions," said Pumaren, noting that his wards will start their scrimmage tomorrow with a unique schedule.

To get used to the time difference in Tehran, which is three-and-a-half hours behind local time, Pumaren said his under-18 squad would have its practices at night from 10 p.m. to 1 in the morning.

Most of the competition in Iran will most likely be played at night. The Philippines opens its Group C campaign on August 29 against Lebanon before testing the mettle of United Arab Emirates the following day.

"If we just play like we did against the Chinese last time then we'll have a good chance. They showed a lot of heart," said Pumaren, referring to his team’s 84-80 triumph over the tall Chinese to claim the third place honors in a four-nation Invitational tournament recently.

Incidentally, the same Chinese team they met last time is the defending champion in the Asian tourney.

"If we compete with a lot of heart, we’ll give them a run for their money," Pumaren said.

Owing to the lack of ceiling that was exposed when they play against Lithuania, which beat Taiwan for the crown in the invitational vent, Pumaren said he also wants his team to improve its outside shooting.

"We are undersized so we need to be better shooters."

Fil-Canadian Matthew Wright, the newest recruit in the squad, will lead the charge for the Filipinos who will carry the hopes of ending a 26-year title drought in the Asian tilt.

"He’s (Wright) in decent shape but he’s not yet in basketball form. We need to push him more," Pumaren said of Wright, a 6-foot-2 shooting guard from Martin Groove High School in Toronto.

Pumaren will also pin his hopes on 6-foot-4 Philip Paredes, Norberto Torres and 6-foot-5 Ian Sangalang.

The RP Youth earned a ticket in the Asian Youth tournament after ruling the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Junior Men Championship in Malaysia last May.

The last time the country won the Asian junior crown was in 1982 when the team composed of some basketball greats like Hector Calma and Alfie Almario beat the Wang Libin-led China.

China leads Hong Kong, India and Japan in Group A while Saudi Arabia, Korea, Kazakhstan and Jordan belong to group B. Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Syria and host Iran are in Group D.