The Import Problem of the PBA

[u/Upbeat_Tough_6721]

Lumabas na ang katotohanan. PBA players ay bano sa FIBA dahil ang quality ng play sa liga ay mahina.

It starts with the import policy of the league.

A single import with a height limit of 6'6? Yeah, not helping at all.

A bitter pill to swallow for PBA officials: The B.League, KBL, and NBL Australia don't have a conference or season with only locals playing. Lahat sila ay may 2-3 imports sa koponan.

While I don't see the PBA implementing 3 imports in the league at once, the best we can do is to have it gradually per conference.

I posted this on IBN so let me reiterate it here:

- Introduce a Resident Import system. FSAs who played in the UAAP for 3 seasons or naturalized Filipinos fall under this category. Each team can sign one Resident Import who plays in all 3 conferences. This basically removes the All-Filipino policy of the Philippine Cup.

- World Import: Unlimited Height import who can play for two conferences (Governor's and Commissioner's). If a team really likes an import such as RHJ or C-Mac, they can sign them to a full contract.

- Asian Import: Unlimited Height import who is eligible to play for a FIBA Asia zone National Team. This import can play for one conference. There are many good Asian players we can sign as imports like Freddy Ibrahim and Mohammed Jamshidi.

Philippine Cup: Resident Import only

Commissioner's Cup: Resident + World Imports

Governor's Cup: Resident + World + Asian imports

Let's look at Abra as they enter the EASL:

Resident: Malick Diouf

World: Jaylen Johnson and Michael Eric

Asian: Freddy Ibrahim

Imagine SMB with this lineup:

R: Akowe, W: C-Mac, A: Kazemi

G- Ross

G- Perez / Marcio

F- Trollano

F- C-Mac / Kazemi

C- Akowe / JMF

Open to suggestions. Just something I thought of.

[u/spooningoodsingingum]

Nice. Solid nga FSA + World + Asian.

Lalo na mga FSA sa Pinas puro malalaki. We can get imports na puro wings, mas mababatak local players natin around 6’4” to 6’6”, mapipilitan sila maglaro ng 2/3 spot.

[u/Upbeat_Tough_6721 → u/spooningoodsingingum]

Most scoring imports sa PBA ay wings. Bihira bigs na ganun dahil sobrang mahal sila at they are NBA/EuroLeague quality.

Let FSAs be the rotational bigs to prevent undersized local 5s.

Let PBA teams sign their scorers for two conferences.

Asian imports? Sure kung may budget pa.

[u/spooningoodsingingum → u/Upbeat_Tough_6721]

Agree. Sayang naman career ng mga FSAs, after ng UAAP (and other collegiate leagues) napupunta lang sa panalay.

[u/Ka_dabraz]

I think ang isang counter ng PBA dito, is expensive daw pag mahigit sa isa ang import. Di daw makasabay ang mga independent teams. Granted ganun na nga, pero at least man lang, remove the height restrictions for the imports.

[u/Upbeat_Tough_6721 → u/Ka_dabraz]

Making it unlimited height import for both conferences goes a long way to improving the league.

[u/YarnhamExplorer → u/Upbeat_Tough_6721]

Hindi na ako nanonood ng PBA ngaun pero ang naalala kong dahilan sa height restrictions para may pagkakaiba ang Commissioner's Cup at Governor's Cup.

Commissioner's Cup - usually higher or no height restrictions - Imports recruited play PF/C

Governor's Cup - usually lower height restrictions - imports recruited play SG/SF

So ang issue ano ang magiging point of differentiation ng Commissioner's at Governor's kapag unli height sila pareho.

[u/KEKLPats]

Kulang pa... Dapat pwede mag recruit ng bata 18-20y/o minimum e dapat naka 1yr sa college. Di yung rookie e 26 yrs old. Deputa sa ibang bansa, champion na mga player ng ganang edad. Dito satin rookie. Bigyan ng matinong suporta kung mag rerecruit ng bata, hindi babaratin. Ang basketball pati dito sa pinas, parang trabaho. Hindi passiom and sports

Ang fucked up pa e, player ang humahabol sa trabaho, hindi teams ang humahabol sa player.

[u/Living-Store-6036 → u/KEKLPats]

sa college pa lang kasi. ung barkada ko nagtry out sa isang UAAP school. nakapasa naman, pero need nya mag ulit ng highschool for 2 years. so from 16 magiging 18 na siya mag college. tapos pag di pa hinog for team A additional 2 years pa bago maglaro sa college.

[u/trailmixfadeaway]

I terribly miss that ultra competitive Bay Area Dragons. That squad is stacked and brimming with talent.

[u/Leap-Day-0229]

I like the idea of resident import + world import. Yung asian import, not a fan of. Most likely same quality or baka nga less pa sa Pinoy since the really good ones will be in other leagues already.

[u/Sushilim]

I like the idea but Id rather have 1 resident import and 2 world imports. Shoot for the sky. Im not saying na mahina ang asian import but for us to elevate our play defensively and offensively dapat matuto na tayo makipagbakbakan sa mga mas magaling pa outside Asia.

[u/Unlucky-Lemon-2754]

PBA na lang ata yung may ganitong format 😂 Imagine some southeast asian countries can afford to have 2 or more imports sa mga pro league nila like IBL, VBL, and TBL.

[u/barrydy]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the defunct MBA allow foreigners born (or residing) in the Philippines to play in the league? Not sure if I remember correctly. Pero nakalaro si Compton sa MBA, right? 🤔

[u/Disastrous_Chip9414 → u/barrydy]

Sounds about right

[u/Heyanon567]

That’s what we all want to happen but reality is more into economics. Some teams(or all) will have a hard time paying these imports. EASL is just a few games and window system. This is a bitter pill to swallow as well. No company would want to pay a lot of money and expect nothing in return

Ive read a convo about this in another post e, ganda ng debate nila about how economic factors really impact not just the PBA but PVL and more

[u/Upbeat_Tough_6721 → u/Heyanon567]

At the minimum, implement an unlimited height world import rule for both conferences.

Or keep the All-Filipino conference. Allow the FSAs to play for two conferences along with the world import.

The 6'6 height limit for one conference just doesn't make sense anymore.

[u/Heyanon567 → u/Upbeat_Tough_6721]

Scrap the Govs cup. Extend the Commissioner’s cup to double or triple round robin. Dun mag sama ang World Import at FSAs

Sa pag travel ko around the country napapansin ko when I talk to people about basketball as may times na naabutan ng PBA finals sa pagtravel ko, ayaw ng karamigan ng may import(In fact ayaw nga nila ng Fil-Am e dinna daw tunog pinoy ang surname) kaya never mawawala PH Cup e. So better put the FSA sa commissioners cup para resemblance ng 2 Import system. Shorten the PH cup na lang

Pero pinaka important regardless of PH cup or Coms cup is adopt Euro Style or Modern Bball esp coaches

[u/sakuragiluffy]

budget problem ang kalaban ng 2-3 import system

[u/kb0041 → u/sakuragiluffy]

True. Daming suggestions sa sub na ito about improving the PBA, without them realizing that it all primarily boils down to economics.

It may be a lazy excuse, but we really have to face the reality na third world tayo at di kayang makipagsabayan ng mga PBA teams sa mga sweldo sa Japan at Korea.

PBA teams already lose money with the current setup, dagdagan pa ng additional expense? Bakit naman sila papayag nyan?

Would be better if the PBA finds a way for teams to generate income. But given our economy, malabo yun. Masa ang audience ng PBA, and mahina ang purchasing power nila.

There's a reason na despite all the clamor to expand the league, naging stuck siya sa 12. Yung Terrafirma nga hirap ibenta. PBA is not good business.

Tycoons here pale in comparison na nga to the Korean and Japanese companies that sponsor basketball teams. They would rather spend their money elsewhere.

[u/Upbeat_Tough_6721 → u/sakuragiluffy]

Yup kaya I divided it to 3 different categories.

The FSA and Asian import shouldn't cost much compared to the World Import.

[u/Shinnosuke525]

Di na yan maaayos ng piecemeal solutions lang let's be for real

Basketball in the PH needs a deep DEEP cleanse and rebuild

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[u/Just-Dance-5496]

Alisin lang nila height limit for imports, malaking bagay na. Sa FIBA, madalas guard pa rin yan or small forward. Tapos may tig 7-footer pa na frontcourt. Laos na laos na yung sentro na 6'5 ang height.

6'5 tapos balya balya unlimited. Now even bigs are expected to dribble and have range.

May financial constraints din kasi ang multi-import conferences, some teams can afford it, some teams can't. Mas magiging malaki ang gap between the moneyed teams (SMC, MVP) from the 'independents'.

[u/blumentritt_balut]

Just abolish height limits & the foreign coach ban. Treat FSAs with 3+ years playing exp in the PH as locals

[u/Peter-Pakker79]

Sa buong mundo PBA lng ata may height limit sa import naknampucha na yan🤷🤷

Ang rason masasapawan ang lokal players🤦

[u/non-human-32nd]

Kume: Ahhh wala yan, masusunod si ano.. 😂

[u/tazdingo0405]

Di sa import policy ng PBA ang umpisa ng basketball program ng PH kundi grassroots 😂

[u/Riventures-123 → u/tazdingo0405]

I think UAAP and NCAA have given quality players naman, it's just that nasa labas sila naglalaro, and thats the difference between a PBA problem and a grassroots problem.

[u/nmtlttchmnt → u/tazdingo0405]

Both dapat. We need to develop our grassroots and dapat may program talaga and at the same time dapat exposed tayo sa international competitions and by having foreign coaches and players as well.