Norwood upbeat on securing Olympic spot with Blatche

MANILA, Philippines – After falling a win short of the FIBA Asia basketball gold two years ago in Manila, veteran national player Gabe Norwood is confident that Gilas Pilipinas can get the job done with naturalized player Andray Blatche now in tow.

The 6-foot-5 Norwood, who began his national stint in the 2007 FIBA Asia edition in Tokushima, Japan, said everybody’s in one page since they started training under coach Tab Baldwin.

“We have guys who can play multiple positions all over the place. And we’re hungry because one thing that’s similar to the (past Gilas) teams I played on, is we wanna win and we wanna compete on the high level,” Norwood said, before leaving with the rest of the national team on Monday morning for Changsa-Hunan, China, site of this year’s Fiba-Asia men’s championships.

The Fil-Am guard was also quick to point out that this rejigged Gilas team is determined to go for the Asian basketball in order to put an end to the country’s long, long absence in the Olympic cage scene.

“The last time we competed with a naturalized player, we came with the silver (in 2013). And hopefully, there’s progression for us because there’s only place to go up, and that’s gold and that’s our goal,” said the athletic guard from Rain or Shine.

Norwood believes only a few players could experience winning a PBA championship, play in the FIBA World Cup and the Olympics. 

No doubt, every Gilas player has set his eye on the Olympics, set in Rio, Brazil next year.

“Well, just scratch that off your professional basketball list of to dos because from winning a PBA championship and playing in the World Cup, the next thing has to be the Olympics,” he said.

“I’m sure it’s on everybody’s mind because it (Olympics) is a once in lifetime opportunity and we’re all very excited for that.”

The Philippines had its last Olympic stint in 1972 in Munich, Germany where the national squad, bannered by William ‘Bogs’ Adornado, Narcisco Bernardo, Manny Paner, Jun Papa, Freddie Webb, Jimmy Mariano and Tembong Melencio placed 13th.