ALLAN THE MAN

Although both NBA’s Andray Blatche and Asian Games-bound Marcus Douthit play the most significant roles in the Philippine national team, team captain Jimmy Alapag pointed out key differences between the two naturalized players.

In an interview on DZMM’s Fastbreak, Alapag said Blatche is more of an outside player due to his orientation in the NBA.

“[He] has a skill set more geared towards the small forward because that's his natural position in the NBA,” said the “Mighty Mouse.”

“So his ball handling, as you saw in Seville, a lot of times, he would get the rebound and he was free to push the ball up to court and shoot from the perimeter,” Alapag added.

Douthit, on the other hand, is more comfortable with his place under the basket. He is also comfortable hitting shots near the 15-foot line, said Alapag.

“Marcus is more of the back to the basket, strictly on the post, stretch out to the elbow and shoot the 15-16 footer. Really an inside presence for us,” he said.

Douthit will be stepping in for Blatche in the Asian Games after the latter was delisted from the roster for failing to meet the Olympic Committee of Asia’s (OCA) 3-year residency requirement for naturalized players.

The good thing about Douthit coming in is that he’s relatively fresh going to Incheon, South Korea, unlike the time he competed in the FIBA Asia Championship last year where he was saddled by injuries.

Alapag said Douthit’s task now is getting into game shape for the Asiad.

“Marcus was with us all throughout our training in Spain. I think he's in good shape, game shape, we'll have to wait and see but we practice tonight and we'll get to see Marcus,” he said.

Alapag also said it's important for Gilas to start winning games in the tournament so that they can carry the momentum until the end.

“It's gonna be a tough tournament. We don't wanna be in Incheon [taken] for granted… We need to maintain or start building momentum right from the beginning and sustain it going to the knock out round,” he said.

“If we do it, we have a chance to be there in the end."

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