LET me preface my column by saying that I grew up a fan of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). I served them by working as editor-in-chief of one of its official publications and by also working as the official writer for a couple of teams. Furthermore, I also got to work for the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (PBA) for a number of years.
Now, the PBA is fast approaching its 50th year and I do wish it well for its next decades.
With that out of the way, I would like to point out that their visit—if you can call it that—to the Japan B.League offices in Tokyo was wrong and maybe even in poor taste.
They reached out for mutual understanding, respect and improved relations and cited that Filipinos playing in Japan has hurt the PBA and the national team training and development?
Really?
That’s like going to this guy who seems to be winning the heart of this girl and asking if the playing field can be leveled so he has a chance at the latter. Walang bilib sa sariling abilidad.
In my opinion, and having watched and seen the PBA from within and from the outside, they do a better job of hurting themselves more than anyone else.
Let us start with the immediate “concerns” or “comments.”
How has it hurt the league?
We have a surplus of players. We have so much that there aren’t enough teams to give them a job. So they go to other leagues such as the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL), VisMin Cup and others. Some even previously plied their trade abroad with the Asean Basketball League (ABL).
If the MPBL were run much better, they would give the PBA even bigger fits and in the same manner that the defunct MBA ever did.
The funny thing there is—the PBA reacts to things. It is never proactive. For a league that is close to turning 50, you can’t even say it is progressive. Can’t you have some foresight?
When players were going to the ABL, no one made a fuss because they were deemed not up to league standards. But ABL teams did a good job of bringing in Filipinos, even those born overseas to their respective teams. What did we do? We poached them.
Oh, they were offered contracts at the end of their terms with their teams. So what is the difference between the B.League and the other Asian leagues offering the same?
And… you cannot even curb poaching in the PBA then you have the gall to tell other leagues to stay away.
We have 12 teams in a league with no parity and it’s run by blocs and with their own satellite teams. Players have no representation.
If you are referring to the young stars coming out of college going abroad, let me ask you this? Is playing abroad for everyone? Didn’t some of them not fare well abroad that they came home?
By the same token, when a nurse or a laborer leaves for abroad, why do they do so—for a better life, better opportunity, or a desire to just move abroad. It stands to reason that if it were better here, then people would not leave.
However, not every Filipino laborer finds a career abroad, many come home. It is not for everyone. Even the Japan B.League.
So why come up with reactive rules to hurt players? Banning them? That is insidious.
Instead of creating an atmosphere where players can play internationally then come back (like the Women’s National Basketball Association), you ban them.
Can you think of our own government banning workers who went abroad from seeking employment here? Can you think of our government going abroad to foreign countries and asking them not to poach our workers? They cannot because they cannot even provide jobs for everyone.
Do you ever care for players who are cut by their clubs? And what is the average playing career of a PBA player? Five-six years? You cannot fault players for wanting bigger paydays for their own career and their respective families.
If you want to even seriously stop poaching in the PBA, then why don’t you just give each team a cap then let them pay their players what they want. That way, the smaller clubs can hold on to their players instead of being poached by big clubs. Now, will they even do that?
And how is the player movement hurting the national team? Do all the PBA teams release their players for national team duty? No. Because it runs concurrently to the PBA season.
Players are only obliged to suit up for official Fiba windows.
The PBA wants its cake, pasta and pizza, and everything else around. In a world made smaller by globalization, they want to reap its benefits while remaining insular.
What you have is an opportunity to reinvent yourself, PBA. Move forwards and not backwards. Hopefully, before the league hits its 50th birthday, it is given the gift of wisdom.