Overtime

GILAS HEAD COACH BALDWIN PRAISES CARL TAMAYO, NOTES “A PROBLEM FOR ALL OF HIS OPPONENTS”

“Strangely enough, I have had very limited exposure to Carl Tamayo,” shared Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin, turning upside down his own words as he praised the youngster as someone who’s hard to face and fight on the court with.

/ 2 May 2021

“He’s gonna be a problem for all of his opponents,” Baldwin said on Hoops Life, presented by SMART Sports.

The multi-decorated mentor disclosed that he was not familiar with the Gilas first-timer Tamayo and wondered ‘where did we find a 6-8 guy that I don’t know who he is?’

“So I quickly ran over to him as a fanboy would, and introduced myself. I said, ‘Who are you?’ and, ‘Coach, I’m Carl, nice to see you.’ I was really impressed just when he walked in the room,” he propounded.

“I’m not gonna get into too much praise. He’s a very, very fine player and huge upside. But let me tell you something I didn’t know about him … When Carl went out on the court, and I saw him immediately being confrontational, immediately being a bit of a… I gotta keep my language clean here, I think. Can I say an A… I’ll just say an antagonist. I’ll say an antagonist. But most of us can convert it to what I really wanna say,” Baldwin continued.

The Cebuano big man Tamayo is the youngest player inside the training of Gilas pool bubble at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna, yet was not a hindrance to showcase what he got.

Baldwin also noted that even though Tamayo is new to the environment with no acquaintance exhibited his competitive side.

“When Carl went out on the court, I saw him immediately being confrontational, immediately being a bit of an antagonist. I fell in love with the kid for that reason alone. He wanted a piece of everybody,” he shared.

“I don’t think Carl is gonna back down from anybody when it comes to trying to get to his end goal on the basketball court. And I think that bodes extremely well for him, for any team that he plays for,” Baldwin concluded pinpointing that Tamayo is ‘made of that substance that they will do almost anything to win.”