 |
| Mahirap utakan ang mautak |
And while the uneducated are quick to crucify Kume for his actions and are starting to tag him as a closet MVP supporter, the only big acquisition made by TNT is Japeth Aguilar from Burger King/ Air21. And that was more on Aguilar's off court drama of wanting to play for flag and country rather than MVP forcing his hand (because had he wanted to, this writer is pretty sure they'd get more than just Aguilar who up to this very day, is just another pre-three point sniping Nino Canaleta).
To protect the league from spoiled teams who try and actually succeed in buying out the competition, here's a suggestion:
1. Create a PBA Superstar classification among players. Since stats are the in thing nowadays, Player Efficiency can now be measured at a much better percentage. This writer suggests that each team's Top 5 PER guys make the list for a certain period, say, a year or counting on the previous season. It doesn't even have to be made public, and something that the PBA Board alone shares.
Ginebra: Helterbrand, Caguioa, Cortez, Raymundo and Ababou
2. PBA Superstars, those in the Top 5 PER, are to be traded for guys who are also Top 5 material, or at least for guys who, when added together, put up similar PERs. Again, this would require a lot of arithmetic, but that's not a problem these days with all the Fantasy owners and stat geeks in the world.
Helterbrand for Castro. Or, Lassiter for Baclao and Yeo (Guevarra would be taken off the table because he hasn't registered enough minutes or points with Air21 or Petron to warrant solid PERs).
3. Sister teams can directly trade with one another provided the initiating party RELEASES a Top 5 PER to free agency. Yes, free agency. For a certain period for other teams to try and sign, if the period lapses and the player remains unsigned, then he can negotiate with the sister of his original team. Not with his original one.
Intal for Raymundo. Release Tubid, who signs with Barako Bull. Or, if unsigned, goes to Petron.
See how that works out for everyone?
4. Teams who are planning to bolt the league are not allowed to make trades 6 months prior to their exit. This will protect the players from being shipped into unfair situations. It will also protect the fans. Plus, it will help whichever new franchise comes in to stay competitive and inherit an automatic fanbase.
Of course, suggestions like the first one will be up to the PBA board and how fair/ just they are morally. If this writer remembers correctly, the PBA had a similar system in place years back but teams took a huge dump on it by naming their own "star players" or untouchables-- yep. You guessed it right. Some of them named so-so players to their Top 5 in order to get leeway from the league when it comes to trades.
What other counter measures should Kume consider to help keep the league from imploding?
I think in the 80's, something similar to your first suggestion was already implemented. Abet Guidaben, Mon Fernandez, and Manny Victorino could only be traded straight up in exchange for one another. Though I'm not sure about the inner workings of the said system.
ReplyDeleteI do recall Guidaben and Fernandez changing places/teams at least twice.