What Lassiter and Lutz' return means for PHL

Now that Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz have been cleared by FIBA organizers, what exactly does this latest development mean for Team Pilipinas and our medal-round bid?

Positives
+  Balanced rotation and substitution patterns
National team head coach Rajko Toroman will now enjoy having 12 players on his active roster as earlier envisioned without having to play guys longer than they should.

+  Less chances of injuries/ fatigue
By having more guys on the roster, the players won't have to worry about burning themselves out since someone's always going to be ready to give them a breather

+  Unpredictability of offensive sets against other teams
Different player equals different looks on both offense and defense

Negatives
-  Less minutes for big time players
JVee Casio and Mark Barroca have been asked to play SG at times in the first round each to bad results. Best example was China opting to attack Casio at every opportunity since he was badly outsized by his man by at least three or four inches. Now that everyone's back, Casio, Barroca and Jimmy Alapag will all slide to their natural PG position which in turn will create a log jam. The same can be said at SG, where Chris Tiu is a lock to play no less than three quarters (don't ask why). The guys I see that are bound to lose minutes the most are Mark Barroca, Marnel Baracael and Japeth Aguilar.

-  Crowded frontline
With Tiu being the default SG, the returning Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz are going to share time with reliable Marnel Baracael at small forward. This will force Kelly Williams to play PF exclusively alongside Japeth Aguilar and Ranidel de Ocampo. This hurts because if only Tiu didn't have a lock at SG, our starting five could have been loaded with weapons form 1 to 5. Imagine: Alapag-Lassiter-Baracael-Williams-Douthit with Lutz, Taulava and Casio as the guys coming from the bench. Wow.

-  Smaller line-up 
Again owing to Tiu's key position in the scheme of things which may or may not be his fault, the National team will have to field in a line-up that is shorter in some areas than their opponents. We're already outsized at the power forward spot, so I don't really see how sticking to Casio-Tiu-Lassiter-Williams-Douthit would help our cause any further other than their familiarity with one another.

All in all, it's still better to be three-men deep in each position rather than to not have guys suit up. Hopefully, Toroman pulls through and goes with the best line-up to advance to the medal round.

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