MACAU – The East Asia Super League Final Four got going on Friday night with something missing at the Studio City Event Center.
Filipino flavor.
Meralco fell short, while San Miguel failed miserably in its own bid to reach the semifinals where Japan B.League team Hiroshima and Chinese Taipei’s P.League+ side Taoyuan set up a finals date after dispatching New Taipei and Ryukyu, respectively.
That marks the second straight year the Philippines has no representative in the knockout stages of the growing basketball club champions league of Asia.
READ: Hiroshima, Taoyuan vie for regional supremacy in EASL Finals
Asked what PBA teams need to do to get over the hump, EASL CEO Henry Kerins acknowledged why Philippine teams have inherently gotten the short end of the stick.
While the EASL allows two imports per team, the PBA has long had a one-import rule, forcing EASL representatives to tap second imports on short notice in the hopes of matching up with their better-reinforced opponents.
“You have essentially this guest import that comes,” Kerins admitted. “He doesn’t have that relationship with the team that these other clubs do where they play for a long time.”
“That’s a disadvantage we’ve tried to mitigate as best as possible,” he added.
Apart from two imports, EASL also allows one naturalized player and one Asian import.
The Bolts prepared for the EASL by bringing in DJ Kennedy to initially pair with mainstay Allen Durham. They also took advantage of the naturalized player spot that Ange Kouame filled.
Meralco then brought in Akil Mitchell to replace Durham for the Commissioner’s Cup.
Injuries, though, inevitably derailed the squad as the Bolts, at one point, played with only Kennedy and Kouame while Mitchell was hurt as they ended their group stage campaign with a 2-4 record.
San Miguel had it worse. Initially fielding Quincy Miller to team up with regular import EJ Anosike, the Beermen eventually also had to deal with injuries and make replacements.
Even with Jabari Narcis and Torren Jones coming in, San Miguel failed to build chemistry. The Beermen played with only one import in Jones against Hiroshima.
As if that wasn’t enough, they had to make do with an all-Filipino squad, resulting in a 94-81 beating at the hands of Suwon KT Sonicboom in Korea on the last gameday of the regular season on February 12 to end their stint winless in six games.
While he wants to see PBA teams succeed in the EASL, Kerins is careful not to step outside his jurisdiction as far as making suggestions to the PBA on changes to the import rules is concerned.
“No (suggestions), not at all. The PBA has their own strategy on what they’re doing and we don’t get involved in domestic strategies. That’s not my business.”
What PBA teams can do, according to Kerins, is to simply build better cohesion with their second imports.
“Ultimately, bringing in the import early and integrating them into the system as much as you can will be a huge bonus, because that’s a key part of team culture," he said.
“But otherwise, the conference schedules’ demanding, Fiba windows are demanding, so injures are hard to mitigate,” he added.
Still, Kerins noted the Bolts’ progress from last season despite the challenges as they started with a 2-1 record before losing their last three games.
“You look at that one group this season, you have three teams that are (nearly) 3-3 – Meralco, New Taipei, and Macau, and all of them are good teams, and all of them could’ve made it.”
“I don’t wanna say there’s anything that needs to be changed or done. I think it’s just how the cookie crumbles. We’ll see how Meralco performs next conference. It’s more about staying healthy,” he added.
Whether he makes a suggestion or not, Kerins feels the PBA is forward-thinking.
“They got rid of height limit. I think people realize height doesn’t matter anymore. Some of the most effective players now in basketball are not tall guys and that’s just how it is. We’ll see. I think the PBA is open to innovation more than almost any league and they’re open to adjustments.”
“But ultimately, they know what they’re doing and know what they need to do. And they’re not going to make decision on the domestic league just based on the EASL. That’s just the reality,” he added.
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