STOP wailing, please? We are on the same boat with the United States.
We finished rock bottom in the 32-team field in the just-ended Fiba World Cup in China where the US was a dismal seventh in its worst showing in the quadrennial meet.
Our sorry ending once again was expected, not surprising at all. We were doomed from the start.
So with the Americans, who, despite being the champs in the last two editions, were headed to dethronement when they crossed the Pacific Ocean.
Like Gilas, Basketball USA was not armed to the teeth this time as its NBA superstars balked.
Our bid to surpass, even equal, our one-win achievement in the 2014 Spain Worlds got derailed long before the tournament even began as we were lacking horrendously both in preparation and manpower.
Cramming in training as national mainstays had to first comply with commitment to their teams playing in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup just weeks before the China meet.
Smarting from the loss of players to injuries, mainly our certified long-distance shooters Marcio Lassiter and Matthew Write.
And, yes, making do with a naturalized player who was totally out of shape when he plunged to battle.
But the Americans had no problems of that kind. Theirs was the issue of genuine stars abandoning service to flag and country, with the likes of Steph Curry, James Harden and LeBron James as no-show, leaving practically no-name second-stringers to grapple for the 12 choice slots to the Worlds.
The Yankees played hard like our Gilas boys but, alas, there’s no medal for playing hard as AP’s Tim Reynolds wrote.
Curiously, if not painfully, America had a 6-2, win-loss record but still wound up seventh after France shocked the US with an 89-79 quarterfinal victory.
American coach Gregg Popovic was cryptic after the debacle: “There’s no such thing as other guys. These are the guys that are here...and I’m proud of them.”
The “other guys” stayed home to enjoy summer. Multimillionaires hardly take risks, you know. One ankle sprain alone can be costly.