For Rajko Toroman, the well-traveled coach of the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team, there are no fans in the world quite like the Philippines’ hoops-loving populace.

“Their passion for the game is unique,” said the Serbian Toroman, who has spent the last three years in the country. “I’ve never seen any basketball fans as crazy as the Filipinos.”

Toroman describes the Philippines as his second home: he loves the surroundings, the people, and the culture.

“I am enjoying my stay here, which is why my family is also staying with me,” said Toroman, who steered the Iran national basketball team to its first FIBA-Asia Championship in 2007 and its first Olympic stint, three years ago in Beijing.

But Toroman says that in Iran, love for football still dominates despite the national squad’s success in basketball.

“When you go to Iran, you will see 23 different sports newspapers, the first 15 pages were all football,” he said. “That’s why, we were so fortunate that when we won the championship in 2007, we were at the front page of one of the sports newspapers, because it’s rare they give special feature on basketball. Iran is a football nation.”

Olympic dream

Toroman has seen the basketball passion of Pinoy fans first-hand — and he loves it. He’s been in every arena for every major basketball tournament.

“I come to watch games because I love it. Basketball is like a way of life for me,” said Toroman.

But being in a basketball-crazy has its challenges, especially for the man charged with steering the Philippine national team to make it back to the Olympics after five decades.

“For the Filipinos, basketball is like a way of life, too and it’s so disappointing for them when the Philippine basketball team loses its games,” added Toroman. “This is a big challenge for me and I’d like to reward these people who truly loves basketball.”

But Toroman is aware on the bumpy roads his team will certainly encounter as soon as they step their foot on Chinese soil in September for the FIBA-Asia Championship, which serves as the qualifier for the 2012 London Olympics.

“Our chances depend on how well the PBA players can blend quickly with us. We want to play as many games as possible involving them so we can establish team chemistry. But we have a pretty good chance as soon as we develop chemistry,” said Toroman.

The future is now

For Toroman and the rest of his team, the FIBA-Asia Championship will be the make-or-break tournament.

“My contract ends on October 15 of this year,” revealed Toroman. “If we go to the Olympics, my contract will be extended for one more year. If we don’t go there, then it’s really up to MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) if he will continue the program or not.”

This early, several players have already made themselves available for the coming PBA Rookie Draft, among them Filipino-American players Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter. Even team captain Chris Tiu, and stalwarts Dylan Ababou and Jayvee Casio are contemplating turning pro.

Still, the Serbian mentor remains unperturbed.

“We’re not looking at the future. We are focused on only one thing, which is the FIBA-Asia Championship in September,” said Toroman.

Pinoy coaching, according to Rajko

While basketball has become a global phenomenon, Toroman noticed that the NBA continues to be the biggest influence for Filipino coaches.

“Filipino coaching style is similar to the NBA and our system is different from them,” Toroman said. “Ours is more of a European style. We are playing within a system and players should be smart enough to embrace the system or they will be left out.”

“We call our system like a military system, a system that entails discipline and players should learn on tactical things.”

by Reynaldo Belen -InterAKTV