By JONAS TERRADO
The PBA hopes for a longer season than the previous one with plans to stage two conferences during a 10-month period under a semi-bubble format starting April 11.
PBA Chairman Ricky Vargas said that the league aims to open the 46th season with the centerpiece Philippine Cup followed by a longer version of the import-laden Governors’ Cup.
Pending the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force, games will be played in Metro Manlla under the observance of health and safety protocols that limit the movement of teams from home to playing or practice venues and back.
“It is our hope that we would be able to bring 10 months of basketball in the Philippines starting April 11,” Vargas said Tuesday, March 9, 2021 in a virtual press conference from the PBA Office in Libis.
He was physically joined in the press conference by commissioner Willie Marcial, vice chairman Bobby Rosales of Terrafirma and team governors Dickie Bachmann of Alaska and Meralco’s Al Panlilio, also the president of Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
Vargas said the first four months of the season will be allotted for the Philippine Cup while the Governors’ Cup will be played for six months under a double-round elimination format.
The same Governors’ Cup rules for imports are going to be applied as teams are allowed to tap foreign players 6-foot-5 and under.
Having a semi-bubble season is something the PBA hopes would get clearance from the government after the 45th staging of the pro league pushed through inside the bubble in Pampanga.
STUDY GROUP
Meanwhile, the league is forming a study group aimed at implementing new policies to deal with situations like the one involving Ray Parks Jr. and TNT Tropang Giga.
Vargas made the announcement days after his team felt it was left in the dark when Parks decided to skip the upcoming PBA season due to “personal reasons.”
Vargas said that Rosales will be tasked to oversee the group which will also study other cases like Parks and last year’s decision of Greg Slaughter to “take a break from basketball.”
Two lawyers are being eyed to join the study group, with Vargas hinting that a former PBA commissioner could also take part.
“We have put a study group to take a look at these various cases,” Vargas said after the league’s planning session held Tuesday at the PBA Office in Libis.
“One is what is leave of absence?. Number two, I have a contract and I want to play somewhere else and my contract expired. Number three, situations like I am fresh from college and I don’t want to be drafted and I just want to play for the national team.
“These are all the issues facing us, squarely, as the PBA has gotten more and more universal and since there are a lot of good talents here, the world is looking at them also. So all of these have to be reviewed and addressed,” added Vargas.
Parks’ announcement of his decision not to suit up for TNT this season prompted an irate owner Manny V. Pangilinan to express doubt over the latter’s sincerity, even venting his ire on Facebook by posting a photo of Parks hanging out in San Juan, La Union.
TNT and Parks were in the negotiations for a new deal after the latter’s one-year deal he signed in Feb. 2020 had already expired.
Slaughter had a similar situation last year with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, resulting in his decision to spent most of 2020 trying to improve his game in the United States. He has since patched things up with Ginebra management before being dealt to NorthPort for Christian Standhardinger recently.
The PBA also has a rule that bans eligible rookies from skipping the draft for two straight seasons, a policy that only came to light when Thirdy Ravena was entertaining offers to play overseas. Ravena eventually signed with Japan’s San-En Neophoenix.
