PBA Commisioners Cup Imports

PBA IMPORTS of unlimited height and hopefully – 10 ballclubs pray – also of unlimited talent will be
the main fare in the 2012 PBA Commissioner’s Cup which unfolds on Feb. 10 at the Smart Araneta
Coliseum.

Long has there been a second coming of Cyrus Mann (Crispa) and Andy Fields (Toyota) and this
year’s batch, like their predecessors, will be asked to stand up to the comparison with the two
best sky-scraping reinforcements ever to collar rebounds and swat away shots in the PBA airspace.

The search is on then for the dominant, truly big man import to stir the imagination and draw gasps
of exclamation from the public, who had been held spellbound through the years by some of the most
breathtaking guard-forward showmen ever to strut their stuff in the PBA – Billy Ray Bates, Bobby
Parks, Norman Black, Carlos Briggs, Sean Chambers, Rob Williams, Tony Lang, Lamont Strothers,
Michael Hackett, David Thirdkill, Tony Harris, Derrick Brown, Jeff Collins, Ansu Sesay, Ken
Redfield, Damian Owens and Gabe Freeman, to name more than a few – but never by a jaw-dropping
redwood of a center after Mann (1976) and Fields (1981).

So the countdown begins for this year’s candidates:

* Adam Parada/Alaska Aces:  Born in Alta Toma, California, Parada is a Mexican professional
basketball player who suited up in 2008 with Red Bull in the PBA. Listed at 7-feet and weighing
265-lbs.,he played four years at the University of California, Irvine but was undrafted in the NBA
in 2004.

* DerMarr Johnson/Barako Bull Energy:  Born in Washington, District of Columbia. Listed at 6-foot-9
and weighing 201 lbs. Took up college at University of Cincinatti and was a first round pick (6th
overall) of the Atlanta Hawks in the 2000 NBA draft.

* Chris Alexander/Barangay Ginebra Kings: Listed at 7-foot-1, Alexander, 31, gave Ginebra its last
championship during the 2007-08 season, averaging 20 points, 20 rebounds per game.

* Denzel Bowles/B-Meg Llamados: From Virginia Beach, VA. Listed at 6-foot-10 and weighing 260 lbs.,
Bowles, 23, averaged 17.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists at James Madison University in
2010-11.

* Duke Crews/Rain or Shine Elasto Painters: Listed at 6-foot-8, 235 pounds, Crews, 24, played for
Tennessee and Bowie State in the NCAA where he averaged 5.4 ppg and 4.0 rpg.

* Jelani McCoy/Meralco Bolts:  A 6-foot-10 power forward who played for the Seattle SuperSonics, Los
Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, and Denver Nuggets from 1998 to
2007.

* Nicholas Ryan Fazekas/Petron Blaze Boosters: Listed at 6-foot-11 and 235 lbs. Named a consensus
Second Team All-American, finished collegiate career as the all-time leading scorer in Nevada
history, one of only six players in NCAA history to score 2,000 points, grab 1,000 rebounds, shoot
50 percent and 80 percent from the line, joining Rick Barry, Larry Bird, Bill Bradley, Christian
Laettner and Keith Van Horn. Played for the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers.

* Omar Hassan Samhan/Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters: Listed at 6-foot-11 and 265 lbs. He played for
St. Mary’s  College in California. Named to First Team All-WCC as a senior and junior, WCC
Defensive Player of the Year as a senior, and one of only two players in school history with 1,000
rebounds. Ranks second in school history with 1,846 career points.

* Marcus Douthit/Air21 Express: A naturalized Filipino citizen who played for the Smart Gilas
national team. Drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA draft and an alumnus of Providence
College.

* Dwayne Clinton Jones/Powerade Tigers: 6-foot-11 and 250 lbs. from Morgantown, West Virginia. Took
up college at St. Joseph University and had stints with the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves,
Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Bobcats and the Phoenix Suns from 2005 to 2010.

Blue vs Green Dream Game

Blue vs Green due reunion of former ADMU, La Salle stars

MANILA, Philippines - Other than reliving the rivalry for a good cause, this week’s “Blue vs. Green: Dream Game 2012” exhibition match, also serves as a reunion of sorts for players of both De La Salle and Ateneo.

Coaches Norman Black of the Blue Eagles and Franz Pumaren of the Green Archers were one in saying the players themselves look forward of playing together again for their respective schools in the charity game set this Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The 6 p.m. game to be aired live on AKTV, will be the first exhibition encounter between college basketball’s most bitter rivals since 2008 when the two schools battled to a 90-90 standoff.

“It’s going to be fun, and yet competitive,” said Black, architect behind Ateneo’s four straight UAAP men’s basketball titles from 2008 until the present.

“Remember too, that this game will be like a reunion for most of these players, be it Ateneo or La Salle.”

 “The players are quite excited,” added Pumaren, who similarly steered La Salle to four straight UAAP men’s championship from 1998-2001. “And based on the tickets request that I have been getting, I’m quite surprised about the interests this game has been generating.”

Black, Pumaren, Kerwin Yu of the organizing Mastermind Entertainment, and Rose Montreal of the PBA properties appeared in Tuesday’s PSA Forum at Shakey’s UN Ave. to talk about the cage event being held for the benefit of young cancer patients of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) and the PBA Trust Fund.

“It’s always a pleasure to play for school pride, and of course, for charity,” said Yu, himself an Atenean, in the forum presented by Smart, Shakey’s, and Pagcor Montreal added the game is just one of several charity projects lined up by the PBA under commissioner Chito Salud, for 2012.

Ateneo will be bannered by an imposing frontcourt led by Japeth Aguilar, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Enrico Villanueva, Noy Baclao, Doug Kramer, Paolo Bugia, and Rich Alvarez, with JC Intal, Larry Fonacier, Wesley Gonzales, Magnum Membrere, Eric Salamat and L.A. Tenorio completing the wings and backcourt.

La Salle, on the other hand, will rely on an explosive backcourt bannered by top rookie pick JV Casio, Mike Cortez, Joseph Yeo, Mac Cardona, RenRen Ritualo, TY Tang and Ryan Arana, with Don Allado, Rico Maierhoffer, Carlo Sharma, Jerwin Gaco, Willie Wilson and Brian Ilad complementing them at the post.

Black expects Al-Hussaini to play for a few minutes, saying the Petron power forward has already recuperated from the ACL injury that sidelined him for about six months.

Pumaren is also looking forward to a healthy La Salle roster, including Maierhoffer, who’s likewise coming off an injury.

The 13-man Archers already conducted their practice with Pumaren yesterday, while the Eagles, according to Black, will practice twice – on Wednesday and Friday.

“I just hope all of them show up,” said a grinning Black.

Philippine Basketball Association(PBA)

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 10 company-branded franchised teams. It is the first and oldest professional basketball league in Asia and the second oldest in the world after the NBA. The league's regulations are a hybrid of rules from FIBA and the NBA.

The league played its first game at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on April 9, 1975. Its individual team offices are directed out of PBA head offices located in Eastwood City in Quezon City. The league is currently headed by Commissioner Chito Salud.

History

The Philippine Basketball Association was founded as a "rebellion" of nine teams from the now-defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) which was tightly controlled by the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP; now defunct), the then-FIBA recognized national association. With the BAP controlling the MICAA, the league was de jure amateur as players were only paid allowances, much like what was done on other countries to circumvent the amateur requirement, and to play in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments such as the Olympics. With the PBA out of the BAP's control, they can freely pay salaries to their players, hence, making the PBA the oldest professional basketball league outside the United States; however this also caused the league's players from being barred from playing in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments.

 

Season format

One constant feature in the PBA is that unlike other leagues, there is no "season champion;" instead, the season is divided into conferences or tournaments (not to be confused with the definition of a "conference" in a sporting context as a grouping of teams based on geography or historical affiliation) wherein the teams compete for the conference cup. The winners of the conference cups do not face each other at the end of the season to determine the season; instead all conference champions are league champions, but winning the All-Filipino conference is the most prestigious conference of the season.

From 1975-2003, a season was usually composed of three conferences. From the 1993 season, the conferences were named All-Filipino, Commissioner's and Governors Cups, usually ending in a best-of-7 Finals series match wherein the winner takes the Conference Cup. If the same team wins all of the conferences, the team is said to be the "Grand Slam" champion. A draft was held on January, with the season-ending Governors Cup ending in December.

In 2004, then-commissioner Noli Eala introduced drastic changes to the season calendar. He reduced the number of conferences from three to two and changed the start of the season from February to October so that the league can accommodate international tournaments that were frequently held from June to September. Another reason for the change in schedule was the popularity of college hoops, the NCAA and the UAAP, whose basketball season runs from June to October each year.

The first tournament is the Philippine Cup, which is held from October to February the following year, where only locals are allowed to play. The second tournament is the Fiesta Conference, held from March to July, teams are allowed to field one foreign player called an "import". The Philippine Cup is identical to the All-Filipino Conference of the previous seasons. The rookie draft is now usually held every August.

By the 2010-2011 season, it was reverted back to the old three conference format, although the October to August season was retained.

Teams

All franchises are owned by corporations, and are not based on a geographic locale, therefore they do not play in a "home stadium" and the league per se rents the different stadiums in which the teams play.
A team's name is often divided into three parts; the first is the company name, then the product (can be omitted or merged with the next part), and a nickname - usually connected to the business of the company. For example, the San Miguel Beermen is a team owned by San Miguel Corporation, with the "beermen" nickname denoting the San Miguel Beer product.
The company name rarely changes - it can only change if the franchise is sold or if the mother company transfers the operations of the franchise into another subsidiary. The product name and the nickname often changes, as companies would maximize the publicity the league gives to its products.

Current teams

Air21 Express

Barako Bull Energy

Barangay Ginebra Kings

B-Meg Llamados

Meralco Bolts

Petron Blaze Boosters

Powerade Tigers

Rain or Shine Elasto Painters

Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters