Exercise in futility

At the start of the PBA season, it was agreed upon by the PBA board that teams will be allowed an optional, secondary import of Asian lineage as long as he stands 6"3 and below (the first being the "regular" import of 6"5) for the season-ending PBA Governor's Cup. Truth be told, the idea in general is more of a marketing/ public relations-driven campaign to further the brand instead of improving the level of play in the league.

We already know that the Filipino basketball talent is at par (if not better) than most in the East Asian region. We have known this for so long, specially if we are talking about guys who stand 6"3 and below. This is why every one from Johnny Abarrientos, to Kenneth Duremdes and now Jayson Castro and Paul Lee are able to make their foreign counterparts look a step and skillset slower and lower. So we could fully understand why some of the PBA teams deemed it unnecessary to add another name on the roster, limit their locals' minutes and add to the payroll.

Why?

Because it is "optional."


Of the 12 PBA teams, only six sought out Asian imports-- three (NLEX, Meralco, Talk'n'Text) of which are under the Team MVP payroll which proposed the idea in the first place. The Texters' Sam Daghles is the biggest name sure, but he isn't exactly a draw at the moment (maybe if he leads the team to the PBA Finals, all of the shisha joints along Malate are going to start getting cignal  HD subscriptions).

Kia has their Korean ties so sure, but that didn't work out so well (will need to see more of Jet Chang). GlobalPort didn't really need another guy to score the ball. Ginebra... well...

DNP.

Why the heck did we have our guys fly them over here then?

Rather than scrapping the idea and hope for it to never return, the PBA should learn from this and keep building.

1. Do away with the 6"3 height limit. Jesus Chris we are Asians over here, the last thing we want to pay to watch are a bunch of guys of the same height, build and a lower skillset. Bring in the giants. Bring Haddadi over. The Japanese twin centers. That long haired bandit from Chinese Taipei. Yi Jianlian!

2. Allow teams the option of fielding in TWO Asian imports instead of only one. Meaning, if a PBA team wishes to bring in Haddadi and Kamrani instead of pairing one of those guys with some Westerner, then go for it. It will be an instant draw. The Asian import will not feel out of place on and off the court. And the PR mileage would be crazy.

3. Last and perhaps most important of all: MAKE IT MANDATORY. For all teams to follow suit. And pencil in somewhere that they need to play at least a certain number of minutes (in case any smart ass tries to lawyer up and hire an import for the sake of hiring one, only to bench him in games).

Great idea, faulty execution which can be fixed if studied carefully.

#Sanchir