The Philippine Basketball Association’s involvement in the East Asia Super League gave it a glimpse of how basketball is being played in the region.
In the EASL, teams are allowed to field two imports, something that the PBA should also implement to adapt to this high level of competition.
Last season, for instance, PBA representatives in San Miguel Beer and TNT Tropang Giga bombed out early after losing all of their matches. It’s going to get even tougher this year following the implementation of home-and-away format all throughout the season from October 2023 to November 2024.
The Topang Giga, in fact, gained a first-hand experience of the tough challenge that EASL offers when they bowed to the Chiba Jets in their first game, 75-93, at the Funabashi Arena.
They, however, will still have a chance to bounce back when they clash with the Jets anew, this time, at the Sta. Rosa Sport Complex in Laguna on 1 November.
Still, playing with two imports gives PBA squads a feel of competitive action.
But such format isn’t new.
In fact, the league used the two-import format back in the day to maintain the balance of power and put a handicapping system that gave inferior teams a fighting chance to compete for the crown against top-tier squads.
In 1979, Royal Tru Orange, the brand being carried by San Miguel Corporation, won its first ever PBA title when it deployed Larry Pounds and Otto Moore in defeating Toyota, 3-1, in their best-of-three Open Conference finals series.
A year earlier, it was U/Tex which took advantage of the same formula when it paraded Byron Jones and Glenn McDonald in sweeping Crispa in their best-of-five Open Conference finals series.
U/Tex again capitalized on such a format when it beat Toyota with McDonald and Aaron James at the helm to win the 1980 Open Conference title.
With two imports doing damage, both U/Tex and Royal, and even Mariwasa, broke the Crispa-Toyota dominance in the first five years of the league that somehow leveled the playing field and made the league more exciting to the fans.
It’s about time for the PBA to dust off its old format of parading two imports — those with unlimited height for inferior squads and smaller reinforcements for title contenders — to maintain the balance of power.
In this era when very few teams are taking turns in winning the title, having two imports will make it difficult for them to establish a dynasty as they have to thread the eye of a needle and beat two quality guest players before raising the trophy.
But more than anything, it will make the games more exciting and unpredictable with shocking upsets rocking the league on a regular basis.
Indeed, the PBA should learn a thing or two from a young league like the EASL.
