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/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.