Baldwin eyes Ex-Hua Siong superstar for Gilas pool

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

Former Hua Siong College of Iloilo superstar Mark Nonoy’s future with the PH national basketball team may be revealed in the next few months.

In a recent interview with the Gilas Pilipinas program director coach Tab Baldwin, he revealed that his coaching staff is already looking into the possibility of acquiring the Negrense and add him to the next batch of the pool.

Baldwin shared their desire of tapping Nonoy after the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers and the Belgrade Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).

“Mark at the point is small but just watching him play, talking to the coaches about him, and thinking about it more, he is a kid that seems to overcome the limitations of his size,” Baldwin explained.

However, the current Ateneo Blue Eagles head coach emphasized that opponents can cause defensive mismatches to exploit Nonoy because of his size.

International players can easily back down the small guard in the post and can even play bully ball from the high elbow to fish for easy fouls but Baldwin said that would be a case solved in Southeast Asia.

“Defensively, there will be some challenges for him. And we are seeing the same thing with RJ (Abarrientos) and SJ (Belangel), having to overcome size on the defensive end. In Southeast Asia, it won’t be a problem. In Asia, it’s probably a winnable case. But at the international level, you have to be at an elite level if you’re small. We want to help them achieve that,” he said.

Nonoy just transferred to the De La Salle University Green Archers after a successful debut season with the UST Growling Tigers.

Aside from Nonoy, Baldwin has also set his eyes straight into the former Growling Tiger versatile swingman Rhenz Abando.

“For Rhenz Abando, he is a kid that can really shoot the ball, a tremendous athlete. And he shows that he can play in big moments,” Baldwin added.