There is an alleged move to shorten PBA activities to two
conferences. For a while, it made no sense, especially with how the Philippine
Cup and the Fiesta Conference looked. The Fiesta Conference paraded imports of
unlimited height and of course, their entries disrupted how basketball worked in
the land.
The worst problem to happen in this scenario is how the
centers were developed. Doug Kramer once spoke about this and I guess Jojo
Lastimosa saw this coming during the Fil-Am invasion of the late 90s and the early
2000s as part of the PBA Players Union. Famed power forwards like Alvin Patrimonio, Nelson Asaytono and Noli
Locsin had to develop their outside shooting with the entries of Eric Menk, Asi
Taulava and Davonn Harp. Back in the collegiate leagues and in the PBL, teams
had to contend with the likes of Sam Ekwe, Sudan Daniel, Ola Adeogun, Karim
Abdul, Emmanuel Mbe and Ben Mbala. Big men that were once focal
points during their high school careers were forced to become defensive
stoppers with an undercooked offensive game.
But now, Philippine basketball needs to have time for
preparation. Also, our local players can compete with the Fil-Ams as well as
the big imports. Even if Justin Brownlee is an awesome force and there is still
time for June Mar Fajardo as well as Kai Sotto to develop, our naturalized
player needs to dominate in the paint.
So yeah, the two-conference setup with the second being a
conference of imports with unlimited height is a good move for the league.
But then… now what?
From this point until the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers,
SBP needs to align with the other Asian countries to create something awesome.
I think a decade and a half ago, there was this thing that was called the
Philippine Collegiate Champions League. It was initially made up of the best
college teams from the different collegiate meets in the Philippines. This is
where we caught a glimpse of discoveries like UV’s Greg Slaughter and JR
Quinahan, UC’s June Mar Fajardo and UM’s Samigue Eman. Non-UAAP and non-NCAA
players like the De Ocampo brothers were also highlighted.
Basically, while the ASEAN Basketball League is serving its
purpose, we need to create pocket tournaments for our squads.
For example, after the second conference, let’s have the
teams play pocket tournaments either here or abroad. For example, let’s have
three PBA teams play in an extended version of the Jones Cup, then have three
PBA teams play in the Terrific 12, the FIBA Champions Cup and heck, let’s just
arrange our schedule to fit the ABL season. I think it’s also going to be a
good thing for the league to have pocket tourneys with either the under-23
players or their main roster.
We can even have a mini-joust against the top MPBL teams and
even the top college squads to see once and for all, if the trolls would still
think that we're better off represented by the Maharlika boys than the PBA
stars.
I guess the major point here is exposure. If we can’t have
the best teams play in our land, then we need to go to theirs instead. The
European teams are successful because the teams are co-dependent with each
other. We play the Asian leaders with little to no rehearsals – and this is why
we still can’t figure out how some of their teams work. This must not be the
case.
And it’s not just for our sake – as we need to make the
Iranians, Chinese, Japanese, Jordanians, Lebanese, Koreans, and others realize
that they need us also. Asia, since the current incarnation of the FIBA World
Cup, struggle in the major meets.
Just take DOTA 2 as a comparison. I know there is a whole lot
of difference with regards to these two sports but ever since they introduced
The Majors as well as The International, they have since enjoyed a high level
of competition. I believe the right mix of local and international competition
should make Philippine basketball awesome.
But then here’s the bad part of this dream scenario.
MONEY.
I think it’s time for the PBA to have multiple owners for
single franchises. In how I perceive this vision, I am not talking about pocket
tourneys for Gilas Pilipinas players as well as the champion teams. The proper
way to globalize the PBA is by exposing everyone to the style of a lot of
squads. We have a lot of players that are good at international tourneys but
are lost in the PBA shuffle. First up, let’s have some of the former Gilas
Pilipinas players like Jason Ballesteros, Raymar Jose, Garvo Lanete, Von
Pessumal, and Carl Bryan Cruz. At one point in their careers, they did well in
international outings.
The thought of finding a diamond in the rough in these pocket
tourneys could also be a good thing for Philippine basketball. What if Jeron
Teng becomes a revelation in one pocket tourney or we discover that for some
reason, defensive ace Ping Exciminiano is a good pawn to unleash against the
continent’s perimeter guys?
Contrary to a lot of trolls, weak-minded critics (those who
only complain without a semblance of a noteworthy solution) and pessimists, I
still believe our best sport is basketball. We will never have a World Cup in
football, volleyball and even baseball in the coming decade but we have the
resources as well as (believe it or not, trolls) the talent. People forget that
the current basketball program is just ten years old. Before Iran started their
ascent as Asia’s top dogs, they also had trouble with their lineup. Sure, these
past few years have been trying but it’s not that dire.
END
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