Why Even Dream? On Coach Tab Baldwin’s firing and the Vicious Gilas Cycle
8 out of 10 Filipinos do not have a dream.
Last January 7, 2022, One News PH reported that Dream Project PH conducted a study stating that eight out of 10 Filipinos do not have a dream. It was a report that triggered a variety of reactions. Others laughed while there were those who even went as far as to say that they’d unfriend people who had this kind of ‘mentality.’
But at the core of this alarming statistic was a simple question: why?
Tab Baldwin had a dream.
At the start of 2020, Tab Baldwin came into Gilas Pilipinas with a dream in mind that had two integral parts:
1. Hone and develop players for the international game
2. Build a foundation for the national team in the future
Saying it was easy but executing it was another. But if there was a man who could turn that dream into reality, it was Tab Baldwin.
While the pandemic hit and changed the lives of billions of people around the world, it couldn’t change the goals of Coach Tab and Gilas. Once quarantine restrictions loosened up, the National Team went to work in their own bubble in Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba.
We saw glimpses of the fruits of their labor during the November 2020 window of the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. The young Pinoys had solid performances across the board, cruising to a sweep versus Thailand.
To be frank about it, that was just Thailand. There were greater beasts to slay. The team went back to the drawing board and continued to put in the work. There were dreams to chase. To get to those dreams, they needed to put in double the effort.
The expectations during the June 2021 window were limited. To be honest, fans were just glad there was local basketball to watch in the middle of a raging pandemic. Pinoys just wanted to watch QUALITY basketball. The results were going to be a bonus at this point.
Oh, we got bonuses. Bonuses that seemed to cause a gigantic shift in trajectory of Gilas Pilipinas. Something was happening and it was big.
Gilas swept the June 2021 window; that’s impressive. Gilas beat South Korea TWICE to complete that sweep; now that’s unheard of.
It was easily the best stretch of Gilas basketball fans had watched ever since the 2015 FIBA Asia Championships. Every pass, dribble, and pick executed by the team was with purpose. This wasn’t the dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble offense of old. This was Philippine Basketball evolving before our very eyes.
RJ Abarrientos showed us how a young and developing hooper’s hooper could thrive in a Euro-inspired system. Dwight Ramos was the kind of scoring wing Pinoys had been praying for. Angelo Kouame, Kai Sotto, Carl Tamayo, and Justine Baltazar proved to Pinoys that unicorns are real. SJ Belangel, polarizing haircut and all, showed us that PUSO and classic Pinoy angas could be blended together with high IQ play.
Gilas followed up their performance in Pampanga with an inspired run in the 2022 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, pushing a Boban Marjanovic-led Serbian squad to the limit before running out of steam against a veteran Dominican Republic team. The stars were aligning like never before. Advanced basketball play was finally meeting with fire and passion coming from youth. PUSO was merging together with excellence. Husay at Tibay.
Filipino basketball fans were in cloud nine. Players were being honed and developed for international play and it looked like a foundation was being built for a national team in the future. It felt too good to be true.
Because it was too good to be true.
At around 10:00 PM, January had one last surprise to end a terrible start to 2022 for most Filipinos. The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas announced that Coach Tab Baldwin stepped down from his post as coach for Gilas Pilipinas. Chot Reyes was named his replacement.
This broke the heart of most Filipino basketball fans. But more than sadness, confusion was apparent. SBP claimed Coach Tab stepped down to focus on the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
Even if that were true, it sounded too preposterous. Outside of three championships, Coach Tab had no other deep-rooted relationship with the Ateneo community. Outside maybe of hardcore Atenista titos, that line of reasoning sounded too silly.
Because it was silly. Right after the initial PR released by SBP, reports of Coach Tab being pushed out of his position as head coach of Gilas started to circulate.
Why else would he be pushed out? Politics. Napulitika. Confusion turned into anger. But in hindsight, we should have expected this. Gilas has been through this same vicious cycle ever since 2013.
Here’s one concrete example.
2013–2014
Gilas makes the World Cup > Chot is fired after 2014 Asian Games debacle > MVP and SMC feud over players to send for 2015 FIBA Asia Championships > Questionable 2015 Gilas Roster
That 2013 run was fun; arguably the most fun this generation of Pinoy hoops fans has had. But as this vicious Gilas cycle kept turning from 2013–2019, that joy and passion brought by the infamous battle cry PUSO started to vanish.
PUSO wasn’t sustainable. It’s never sustainable. Filipino hoops fans knew they deserved better. PUSO needed to level up to something greater. Gilas can’t keep acting like the underdog forever; they needed to eventually make the leap to being legitimately excellent. The only they could do that was by having a concrete program in place.
Coach Tab Baldwin’s dream was it; a concrete program that would sustain the National Team. While there were pieces of that program that needed fixing, what Coach Tab had in mind was the closest we got to ending this vicious cycle.
Honestly, it would have been more acceptable if these warts of Coach Tab’s program were exposed in international play, thus leading to his firing as Gilas coach. At least that makes sense because the reality we’re in doesn’t. We just came from a promising National Team run and suddenly we’re back to square one. It makes zero sense.
8 out of 10 Filipinos don’t have a dream.
Does it still sound so unbelievable and unacceptable? Why even dream? Filipino politics, crab mentality, an outdated culture, and questionable leadership find a way to crush it anyway. If it crushed Coach Tab Baldwin and the Filipino basketball fans’ dream, then it can also crush yours.
