Although... what kind of help does Gilas needs that will give them a surefire shot at the Gold in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship... with only 50 days to go?
As of this day, my fearless forecast is that we don't have a shot at anything... we may not even make it to the knockout round... hell, we might not even make it to the second round. We will lose to India!
More hell... we still don't have a team right now!
Players are backing down one by one that it may come to a point that we'll be sending an all-bench team come the Asian Championships. Imagine Jerwin Gaco in a white and blue Nike Gilas jersey. That would be awesome, right?
From the various reasons players have given; from an injured foot to an injured finger; from a US trip to a European trip to wherever in the world Marcio Lassiter is going; from a questioned release by his pro-ball team (when is Andray Blatche set to arrive? UPDATE: Andray Blatche is here!) to a question of eligibility (still can't believe Greg Slaughter wasn't a part of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship line-up... but really, are we gonna place Greg in there right now???). The most valid reason that probably covers the entire excuses of the others who begged off from the pool... the mother of all reasons belonged to LA Tenorio.
He said he is way out of form to join the team since he has been playing non-stop since 2012. He'll be off-form for the national team, and he'll be off-form for a Coach Tim Cone-led Barangay Ginebra. He's probably too tired of hearing fans blame him for the miseries of Ginebra (which I really, truly, disagree... seriously!) that's why begging off was a major consideration.
But what is LA Tenorio talking about? Just look at this list...
*Iran - October / November / December to April / May / June
*Japan - October to May
*South Korea - October to April
*Jordan - February to April
*China - November to March
*Philippines - October to July
These are the schedules of the professional leagues of some of our big opponents come the Asian Championships.
Let me repeat that one for the PBA... October to July.
The NBA has their season from November to June and they are even planning it to cut the season much shorter. While the PBA... October to July... and teams are playing two to three games a week... aba matinde!
No wonder players will be too weary or too tired to play some more for the National cause. Let's face it, they're only humans. We can say everytime "para sa bayan naman ito e..." or "Yung ibang tao dyan willing na willing maglaro para sa bandila, pero kayo binibigyan ng pagkakataon umaayaw pa kayo?" but at the end of the day they can only do so much. Even though their heart are still flaming for the desire to play for flag, their body can only take so much. They are tired. LA was right.
And who is the one to blame?
I'd rather not blame. I made this entry to be a part of the solution and not the problem. Look at the title... I can help! I will help the national team program! I will offer a solution that will avoid these kind of circumstances. And these circumstances such as plantar fasciitis, emergency trip to Europe, wear and tear, came from one problem... this crazy ass schedule!
So if I was the Lee Kuan Yew or Admiral General Aladeen of Philippine basketball, here's what I would do...
Let's switch back the two-conference format!
A Noli Eala-inspired two-conference format; one for All-Filipino and one import-laden conference.
Both conference will bear the same tournament format;
1. 16 games per elimination round. No play-off games whatsoever in case of ties. That makes it a minimum of 32 games per season each team. Blackwater played 33 games this 2014-15 season.
2. Playoffs will be in a 3-7-7 format; Quarters at best-of-three, Semis and Finals at best-of-seven. In this way, series would be longer (which more fans crave for, including me) specially for rival teams such as Ginebra and Purefoods or Talk 'n Text and San Miguel or Rain or Shine and whoever they're up against. You know that teams will give quality series no matter who are they (remember 2011 Philippine Cup Powerade Tigers?) and who are they against (remember 2011 Philippine Cup B-Meg Llamados?). A maximum of 17 games will be played by a team, making it 34 if they make it deep in both conferences. A maximum of 67 games every year. Rain or Shine played 63 games this year.
And another thing... the reason they switched back to a three-conference format is because of the profitability of the play-off games. So here we are! Reduce the number of conferences and increase the games of the play-offs. We can even make the Quarterfinals a best-of-five and the maximum number of games will be at 71. Rain or Shine could have played 80 games this year.
3. The Asian Imports was a thing of beauty. It was the best idea... ever! It's just so unfortunate that other teams chose not to utilize it and one team misutilized their Asian Import (Hello Sanchir!). Who would've thought that Japanese fans will drive into Araneta Coliseum with banners cheering for their player in a Philippine basketball stage? The purpose was met! Bring in some foreign fans! Mission accomplished! Seiya Ando brought in some fans. Michel Madanly brought in his family and thinks of settling here. The possibilities are endless, and if the office guys in the PBA are worrying about profit, this is the solution! Bring in some Asian imports to bring in some Asian fans! Voila! Just imagine if only Kim Kang Kong... ESTE I mean, Kim Ji Wan (hindi ko sinasadya Ginebra fans... hindi ko sinasadya.) was brought in earlier... then the wings of the news will fly and three or four games later the Koreans that you see everywhere in this country are in Araneta Coliseum watching their very own fellow play basketball. Awesome!
But the problem was last time, the height restriction for the imports was so low. That's why teams like Rain or Shine and Alaska chose not to use Asian imports because they do not need another guard. To solve that problem and to not totally erase the presence of the totally foreign imports...
*13 feet combined height limit for imports of the upper eight teams of the Philippine Cup.
*13 feet and 6 inches combined height limit for imports of the lower four teams of the Philippine Cup.
*When hiring two imports, one import should be an Asian import
If a team is still uninterested to hire an Asian import, they can utilize that height limit solely for a seven-foot foreign import.
Get this. A team can hire a 7-footer foreigner and a 6'6" guard/forward Asian import, or vice-versa. Blackwater can hire Hamed Haddadi and AZ Reid if they belong to the bottom four of the Philippine Cup. Or if Ginebra belonged to the upper eight of the Philippine Cup, they can hire Fadi El-Khatib and Marqus Blakely. The possibilities are endless! Just the thought of it is making me drool in my laptop.
So... combining all of this starting next season...
*The elimination will have a total of 96 games (if my math is correct). If a minimum of 9 games is played every week, in 10 weeks the elimination is over.
*If playoffs will be played every other day, a maximum of 5 weeks will be consumed.
*Multiply it for two conferences. 30 weeks.
*Throw in 2 weeks of mid-season break, or for All-Star event. 32 weeks.
That is 20 weeks of rest and preparation for international competitions. Four to five months of rest and preparation for overseas battle. 140 days of everything you need to do instead of 50. This without compromising the financial needs of the professional league.
See... I can help!
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