Gilas Pilipinas travelled to the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya looking to defend the title it won in China, three years ago. Instead, the campaign in Japan ended after just three games.
The Philippines finished 1-2 in Group C and failed to reach the quarterfinals after the 105-61 loss to China on Monday; the finish is Gilas' worst in Asian Games men's basketball history, with the result made even more difficult to swallow because the tournament quickly exposed the gaps between this version of Gilas and the teams it needed to beat.
Across the team's three games, the floor told a fairly clear story about where the preparation of Gilas stood for this competition.
Brownlee and Kouame's absence was felt
The biggest difference between this Gilas team and the one that won the Asian Games in Hangzhou was easy to identify: The absence of Justin Brownlee and Ange Kouame.
Brownlee was one of the central pieces of the 2023 championship team, giving the Philippines a legitimate shot creator who could also create mismatches at the nail to draw two defenders on the ball. Kouame was the defensive anchor in the interior who became Gilas' safety blanket. Without them, the Philippines entered Aichi-Nagoya without a naturalized player, while several of its opponents had one or more.
The impact was notable in the first game, as Gilas faced a Bahrain squad that featured four naturalized players led by JaKarr Sampson and Elijah Thomas -- who scored 24 and 20 points respectively in the 89-85 victory; the defeat ultimately proved damaging to Philippines' hopes of reaching the quarterfinals.
Brownlee's absence was felt most in the places where Gilas needed someone to manufacture offense when the initial action broke down.
Against Bahrain, Calvin Oftana erupted for 31 points, including six three-pointers, while Jerrick Ahanmisi and Robert Bolick combined for 42 points and 11 three-pointers as Gilas cruised to a 109-78 victory against Kazakhstan in their second game. However, Gilas had far fewer ways to generate offense when China's size and physicality took away those clean perimeter opportunities in their third and final group game, and they shot just 7-of-30 from three.
Kouame's void was felt on the other end.
Gilas did not have a naturalized big who could consistently occupy the paint, protect the rim and match the size of the opposing frontcourt, which was evident when China dominated the glass 55-36. Against a Chinese team that could play over the top of Gilas' smaller lineups, the lack of interior size became even more pronounced.
The bigger question, then, is whether Gilas could or should have planned for Brownlee's unavailability much earlier, after he was originally part of the 12-man lineup.
Bennie Boatwright had already been on the radar as a potential naturalized player, but his naturalization process was not completed before the submission of the official pool. He would not have been a like-for-like replacement for the 38-year-old Brownlee, particularly as a shot creator, but his 6-foot-10 frame and ability to stretch the floor would have given Gilas another dimension in a tournament where size and spacing were both problems.
Had Boatwright been prepared as an insurance option earlier, Gilas could have entered the Asian Games with a naturalized player capable of adding size without completely sacrificing spacing. It would not have guaranteed a different result, especially against China, but it could have addressed one of the clearest problems that surfaced on the floor: Gilas did not have enough size or offensive firepower when its perimeter shots stopped falling.
All-PBA lineup couldn't replace Gilas' regulars
The Asian Games was not part of the FIBA World Cup qualifying windows, which meant several regular Gilas players based in Japan and Korea were unavailable. Head coach Tim Cone consequently had to build much of the team from the PBA, with many players entering the national team setup for the first time.
But the tournament showed that being a good PBA player and being ready to immediately become a reliable international player are two different things.
Everyone besides Calvin Oftana had a rough stretch, and was inconsistent in the scoring department. Sedrick Barefield and Zavier Lucero struggled from the field to post just 26% and 22% respectively. Adrian Nocum also had a sporadic tournament at just 36% from the field and Robert Bolick had a roller-coaster Asian Games, with both players dealing with injuries. Justin Arana also saw fewer minutes due to his defensive liabilities as a slow big man who found himself in a bind guarding in space.
That is the difficult lesson from the all-PBA experiment. The players were not suddenly poor basketball players; they were just asked to solve problems different to those they face regularly in the PBA. And with limited preparation time and so many new pieces, Gilas failed to develop the consistent offensive and defensive chemistry needed to overcome the problems.
For Cone, it became a harsh reality that it's necessary for the national team to always put its best foot forward in international competitions.
"It's a reminder for us that if we don't or can't bring our best players to these international events, we won't excel," Cone said after the defeat by China. "We brought some really good players, but we didn't bring our best players."
Calvin Oftana made the strongest case
If there was one clear positive to come out of Gilas Pilipinas' disappointing Asian Games campaign, it was Calvin Oftana.
He was not part of the original 12-man roster, but was called up as a late replacement for Brownlee and arrived in Japan just days before the tournament.
Yet once he stepped on the floor, Oftana quickly became the one perimeter player Gilas could rely on consistently to generate offense.
He scored 31 points against Bahrain, going 11-of-19 from the field and 6-of-9 from three while playing 30 minutes. More importantly, his production did not come solely from difficult isolation shots. Oftana was able to punish closeouts, attack gaps and provide the kind of floor spacing Gilas needed when its half-court offense struggled to create advantages.
Overall, the TNT wing top scored for the Philippines at 18.7 points per game on 59.8 TS%, including a 47% clip from beyond the arc.
There is also a familiarity with the international game that separates the former San Beda Red Lion player from many of his teammates. He was the lone holdover from the 2023 Asian Games gold medal team, meaning he had experienced the physicality and different demands of playing for Gilas. That experience showed in how comfortable he looked stepping into a larger offensive role.
Oftana's form in Japan does not mean he has suddenly cemented himself as a regular in Tim Cone's FIBA lineup -- the competition for wing minutes remains strong, particularly with the return of players who were unavailable for the Asian Games -- but this tournament gave him something he did not have before: A performance that directly strengthens his case.