The Imaginary PBA Third Conference

If this was anywhere between 2005 to 2010, the current PBA season would be over. But since one of the country’s national mottos is “Bola muna bago dro…” …er, I mean “We can’t get enough of basketball” (yeah, I’m making this one up), the PBA will give us the Governor’s Cup in just a few days.

But imagine having this kind of third conference for the PBA.

The 12 teams will be divided into four groups, with the top four teams with aggregate win-loss record of the two conferences having their spot in each group. The other eight will be determined by draw lots. In the first round Groups A, B, C, and D will play a single round robin among their groupmates. The top two teams of each Groups A and B will form Group E, and same will happen with Groups C and D to form Group F. In the second round the teams will carry over their standings from the first round excluding the game they played against the eliminated team and play another single round robin among their groupmates except for their groupmate in the first round. The top team in Groups E and F will advance to the semifinals. The second and third placers in each group will advance to a crossover knockout quarterfinals match. Single elimination in the playoffs to determine the champion of this third conference.

Imagine… Groups A and B will play their first round games in Pangasinan on the first week in a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Groups C and D will play their first round games in Cagayan De Oro on the second week in a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as well. Let’s go some other place like Quezon province for the second round, with doubleheaders scheduled on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Then let’s have the final round, let’s say, in Cebu, with the quarterfinals on Friday, semifinals on Saturday, and Finals on Sunday. That’s a total of 25 games for 12 teams for us to have a champion, with all games played outside Metro Manila. It will also take only four weekends to finish this conference.

For one, this I think is one of the best way the PBA can reach to farther areas where they can only afford to watch the best basketball in the country thru television. Plus, all these games would have so much meaning because it is just a short conference, in comparison with random Saturday out of town games where it falls right smack in middle of the elimination round where indeed it would feel so random. With this, the fans would expect an all-out performance from the players, thus a great weekend of high-level basketball for the fans of the host city. With proper marketing, three or four-day sellouts on the venues is almost a guarantee.

Next, this will give the teams who are great in starting strong in a conference. The eventual champion will only play a maximum of seven games and a two-game losing streak to start the conference means you are out of the title contention. Take for instance the Columbian Dyip; they were 2-1 at the start of the Commissioner’s Cup. That win-loss record could be enough to merit them a spot in the quarterfinals. Another example is the recent Commissioner’s Cup champion Brgy. Ginebra, who had a really bad start in that conference. If they have that same bad start in this imaginary conference and drop their two games in the first round, they will be eliminated. Adapting a FIBA-style tournament to these professional teams will present an equal opportunity to all of the teams to win a championship. Imagine a universe where Blackwater Elite is crowned a PBA Champion… this kind of conference will make it possible.

For the players, I’m pretty sure they will like this, so they can give their bodies that much needed time to recover between conferences. No one will complain about their tired bodies anymore because of too much basketball. This will also enable the league to get some breathing space whenever they are going on a break to make way for the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.

In short, let’s go back to the day where we have a couple of conferences; the Philippine Cup, and the Fiesta Cup. For the sake of having a third conference like we used to do ever since its creation in 1975, let’s have this tournament. I’ll leave it up to them on what will they name it if ever they found this one a good idea. I just laid down the format, and the potential advantages it will bring. They are better on the details and all other stuff.

I just like to see this work. It’s a mere suggestion that I can give to Philippine basketball.

#ParaSaBayan

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Follow the writer on Twitter and Instagram: @sportscastengr

THIS IS ALL ABOUT GILAS 5.0... I PROMISE...

...but it will all start with this ridiculous draft that is going on. It is weird in every single way. It is confusing. It is baffling. It is so JaVale McGee-ish.

Yeah, at first it was a bright idea coming from Mr. Uytengsu that the Gilas 4.5 (Mac Belo and co.) dudes are subjected to a special draft. But that's because of consideration that the past Gilas players (Jayson Castro and co.) won't play in FIBA anymore. That Gilas will all stick to the 4.5 guys from here on. That is good! Because pulling them out every time the FIBA window comes would be as easy as a Japeth Aguilar slam dunk.

Enter Coach Chot Reyes... a man that we can say huli ang kiliti ng PBA Board of Governors. He managed each team to commit a player to the national team. And so, the past Gilas are suddenly back in the picture! Now what happens to the Gilas 4.5? They're now true neutral professional basketball players. Gilas 4.5 is now gone, Mac Belo and company are now past Gilas players too...

...at least in my eyes... or perhaps in yours as well.

So the special draft would now be as pointless as hell since everybody has a chance to be a part of the pool. But the PBA said...

"One player per team plus the Gilas 4.5 is equal to the 24-man pool for the specific FIBA window."

And they're going to push through with it. And it's quite nuts. Look...

1) The best (and perhaps the only… sorry Greg.) pure big man and the best shooter in the league right now is playing for the same team. Those are two most important ingredients for a succesfull FIBA basketball team. Following the current PBA guidelines, June Mar Fajardo might be bumped in favor of Fonzo Gotladera or Marcio Lassiter might be bumped in favor of Kevin Ferrer (YIKES!).

2) The abundance of world-class caliber guards in the Philippines right now:  Jayson Castro (best PG in Asia but no MVP award in his own league), LA Tenorio, Terrence Romeo, Paul Lee, Kiefer Ravena. Those should be automatic shoo-ins in the pool. If you like to insert the Gilas 4.5 point guards here already, then you'll have Jio Jalalon and Mike Tolomia. Yeah, those are two fantastic guys leading their respective college teams... but would you rather prioritize these guards first before the two?

*Mark Barroca - just needs a smart coach.
*Chris Ross, Alex Cabagnot, Chris Banchero, and Stan Pringle - eligibility issues.
*RR Garcia - game improved upon transfer to Star.
*Scottie Thompson - becomes a ghost every time the ball is up for a rebound and suddenly becomes human again and grabs that rebound.
*and others I forgot to mention… you might have somebody else included in here.

If coach Chot got fed up with these tons of choices, he might end up calling Jimmy Alapag again... that is a possibility!

3) Mac Belo, Russel Escoto, Arnold Van Opstal, and Carl Bryan Cruz were the frontliners of that team. And they are quite the same height as Gabe Norwood, BR Parks, Troy Rosario, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Jared Dillinger, JC Intal, Jordan Clarkson, Calvin Abueva (the smallest in the mentioned players), and Japeth Aguilar (the tallest). Get them together in a pool and Belo et.al. will have to play as wing guys too, for they will have no business staying in the shaded lane banging bodies with Andrew Bogut, David Andersen, Aron Baynes, Isaac Fotu and more (Hello FIBA Oceania!).

4) The naturalized guy. Two spots; one for Andray, one for the other guy. I'd pick Liam McMorrow (the Barako Bull import) if I were to pick one right now. But for sure they'll find somebody else.

And to add more wreckage to that special draft, which already happened in extremely ridiculous circumstances (Read some news. Read @musongcastillo tweets on Twitter. Do it RIGHT NOW!), those 12 guys in the special draft are not surefire first rounders if they are included in the normal draft. Since the special draft already happened, some of the would-be first-rounders on Sunday's draft will appear that they doesn't deserve to be picked in the first round, and some of the would-be second-rounders perhaps would appear that they aren't ready for the big league yet. It's a weak draft more weakend by the special draft.

Like I promised... this is a Gilas 5.0 item. So this must be the perfect opportunity for me to explain the perfect solution (for me) regarding the Gilas situation and the new FIBA format. The compound word that I have been shouting on Twitter all year long... the MEGAPOOL!

What is the MEGAPOOL (it is so intense that it should be written in all caps all the time)?

The MEGAPOOL will consist of the best eligible Filipino Basketball players playing in and out of the PBA (Hello Kiefer! Hello Kobe! Hello Jordan! Hello other guys that were signed by the SBP!). The number? I'm thinking of 48 guys. Yes! FOUR TEAMS! All of the players who are included in the MEGAPOOL are required to join once-a-week practices either as the actual player practicing or the player observing. It's like this week, 24 guys will be practicing, the other 24 will be observing, taking notes, studying the game plan (I think these ways will help a lot in improving a player's basketball IQ), etc. The next week, the 24 guys that observed last week will be the players, and the other 24 will be observing. Their only reason not to attend the weekly practice/observation sessions should be playing overseas, or legitimately injured. Players who'll refuse to play for flag or play sick to avoid national team duties should be ashamed of themselves, have their GAB licenses revoked, and get an earful of curses from President Duterte.

When the FIBA window period comes, the 24-man pool required by FIBA will be composed by the players from the eliminated teams of the on-going season of the PBA and others available guys that are overseas, of course including the naturalized guy or an NBA guy if possible. Upon checking FIBA's website, the windows dates are already available, and these are the possible composition of the team with these dates!

*20-28 November 2017 - 2017-18 PBA season should start after this window. The upcoming 2016-17 PBA season should end by the first week of September to give way to the players. Best Pinoy players are all available.

*19-27 February 2018 - End of the Philippine Cup. Only the semi-finalists of that conference won't be available. But that won't be a problem because we have a MEGAPOOL!

*25 June-3 July 2018 - End of the Invitational Cup (more of this on my next column). Only the semi-finalists of that conference won't be available. Jordan Clarkson is available, because the Lakers won't reach the finals that year for sure, and in addition, we have the MEGAPOOL!

*10-18 September 2018 - End of the Fiesta Cup (more of this on my next column). Same thing as the previous window, but the 2018-19 PBA Season should start early or immediately after this window with the same Fiesta Cup because the next window would be on...

*26 November-4 December 2018 - End of the 2018-19 Fiesta Cup. Same thing as the previous window, but no Jordan Clarkson, but we have a MEGAPOOL!

*18-28 February 2019 - 2018-19 Philippine Cup pre-playoffs. Kung kailan huling window na, dun pa tumama sa gitna. Pero okay lang kasi we have a MEGAPOOL! But admittedly, this is the most difficult window to build a team among the present window.

By the last week of June, the 2018-19 PBA Season should be done because...

*September 2019 - 2019 FIBA World Cup; at stake: top Asia Finisher (not including Australia or New Zealand) will directly qualify for the Olympics.

Is this solid planning or what? But, like what I told you in the title, this item is all about Gilas 5.0...

Next column, PBA, in the wonderful words of Bill Goldberg... "YOU'RE NEXT!"  

MEGAPOOL!!!!!!!!!!!

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follow the writer on Twitter and Instagram: @sportscastengr... MEGAPOOL!!!!!!!!!

An Unexpected PBA News Summit

Question: Does the PBA have lousy referees?

• If you think FIBA referees are generally lousy, then for sure you'd answer "yes". PBA refs are like FIBA refs; when they're in the mood to call a foul for touching jerseys, they'd call a foul. Same way when they're not in a mood to call a foul to a 12 to six elbow on the no-charge zone, they wouldn't whistle. A player wouldn't know what those refs had for lunch or what did their wives told them before going to work that would affect their perspective on the game. Like my many several tweets during the SE Live Tweets, we just don't get the PBA refs sometimes (actually, make that ALL THE TIME).

Question: Were the Barako Bull Energy capable of winning that series?

• There were only three basketball players in that team during that series; Gabe Freeman, Danny Seigle, and Willie Miller. The rest were all aspiring mixed martial artists. If you put three basketball players against... uhm... uh... <whispered to my sidekick "how many basketball players does TNT have?">... <whispered again "just subtract one?">... <finally "okay thanks">... a total roster of basketball players except for one, there is no way you'd win the series. Perhaps the only reason TNT lost those games is one, they didn't pass that fucking basketball to Gilbert Lao, and two, TNT forgot in one game that Danny Seigle has the ability to stop his aging process while he's injured which practically makes him like he's 32-33 years old.

Question: Since tanking is such a big trend in the NBA right now, did Ginebra tanked?

• Did Jackson Vroman tanked? Looks like he did. Go back to the moment were Ginebra was pondering of letting Chris Alexander go or stay. The Kris Aquino of the team (Mark Caguioa) said he wanted Alexander to stay, even though he looked terrible at the start and was working his way to optimum potential as the games go. Imagine if Alexander was with the team and Kris Aquino of Ginebra has that eye injury (Incidentally, the dude that is somehow involved in Caguioa's injury is Kris Aquino's ex-husband James Yap! Does James Yap just wanted to destroy everything Kris Aquino related? My crazy ass mind.), I bet his ass wouldn't itch to get in to the game with one good eye the way he was begging for a miracle to get into this series with Vroman as their import. Those lousy passes and fouls in Games two and four? Hell yeah... tanking, baby!

Question: What do you think of the B-Meg-Talk 'n Text Finals series?

• Talk 'n Text are the same old group of BFFs who do nothing but winning. Same old playing styles; Jimmy and Larry can't do defense, Jason Castro plays like an Olympian, Rich Alvarez plays like he's born to annoy key players, everybody else fills in the needed roles... aaaaaaand Gilbert Lao. Same old playing styles for B-Meg too; Josh still makes stupid decisions, James Yap and PJ Simon will go scoreless together and will explode together, Marc Pingris will eat a lot of 1-UPs so he could die-dive for the ball, everyone else obeying coach Tim Cone... aaaaaaaand the towel dude (Watch a B-Meg game live and check that small dude on the corner of their bench who wackily demonstrate defensive schemes/stance/whatever he wanted to tell the players. He's fun to watch, especially when they're down big and you don't wanna see them mess up more, you'll end up watching him).

Question: With that being said, then this will quite be a coaches' series?

• Coach Chot Reyes and Coach Tim Cone for the Philippine Basketball's Most Bad-ass Coach Heavyweight Title match-up. 

Question: With Ginebra Jackson Vroman tanked in the Semis, and now with Petron finally getting Marcio Lassiter...

• Like I said in The Park Games, the only equivalent value of Marcio Lassiter in his team for Petron is Arwind Santos. That is a peso-to-peso deal. Now you have a deal of Celino Cruz-Marcio in exchange for Rabeh-Rey-Lordy. Powerade gave away a full peso and 25 centavos and got in return four 25 centavos, a couple 10 centavos, and a 5 centavo coin (Go figure out their values. I'm not sharing mine. If you're badly interested with my values for them, go follow me and tweet me @sirjhaydelacruz). Put those money in real life situation and chances are you'll lose some of the coins in that 4-2-1 coin combination. Petron wouldn't lose that peso for sure. So at the end of the day, you may have Petron having a full peso in it's pocket while Powerade lost 50 centavos of it down the road (The value maybe coming from Rabeh applying some Midas' Touch on his shooting and torn ACL, or whatever they can squeeze out of Lordy, or......... that's it).

Question: Have you answered any of the question?

• Did I?