LAPU-LAPU CITY – The East Asia Super League believes PBA teams will eventually become more competitive in the coming season after missing postseason play for the past two years.
EASL co-founder and chief executive officer Henry Kerins admitted the PBA is at a disadvantage to the Japan, Korea, and Taiwan teams which have two imports who play throughout their respective seasons. But he believes PBA teams can eventually contend once they have adjusted to the conduct of play in the league.
TNT and Meralco failed to make it to the Final Four in the league’s first season of implementing the original home-and-away format after chalking up just one win apiece in the group stage.
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In 2023, the EASL conducted a Champions Week in Japan with San Miguel and TNT also missing the medal round after going winless.
Given the disadvantages, Kerins still felt TNT and Meralco would've contended had it not been for the injuries the teams suffered during the EASL and PBA campaign.
“I think a lot of issues were with us. It wasn’t in the PBA. It just so happened that TNT and Meralco had injuries, too. A lot of injuries. And that was just unfortunate. If that was a fully-stacked team, and they were healthy, including imports being healthy, I think you would have seen a very, very different outcome,” said Kerins in a roundtable discussion with Filipino reporters on Saturday.
“If the PBA, like Ginebra or San Miguel who just won, if those guys show up, I guarantee you, I’m not going to say that they are going to win but they have no problem competing,” said Kerins.
Kerins also said it would be a huge honor for the league to have the Philippines’ most popular team Barangay Ginebra qualify in the EASL in the coming season.
“Ginebra is the most mature franchise and the biggest following, we all know that. And obviously, we would love to have them. It will be an honor to have them,” said Kerins.
“I think all of those teams though are competitive. Whether it’s Ginebra, whether it’s San Miguel, TNT, and Meralco with no injury issues, even the independents now, everyone is playing quite fell right now. But from a fan-based perspective, just think about it if we had Ginebra playing New Taipei Kings last night, how crazy that would have been. It would have been amazing. We would have heroes out there,” said Kerins.
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Kerins acknowledges the PBA’s rules are different from the Japan B.League, Korean Basketball League, and Taiwan’s P.League+, noting the three-conference format and the one-import set-up per team.
Over the course of their EASL campaign, PBA teams signed a second import to join the one playing in the conference just like the case of TNT this season, where it acquired Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson to join his brother Rondae during the joint participation of the Tropang Giga in the Commissioner’s Cup and the EASL.
Discussions with the PBA
While he expressed confidence that the Philippine teams will be able to adjust eventually, Kerins said the EASL will continue to work with the PBA in taking steps to mitigate the impact of the differences in the PBA with other leagues in the EASL umbrella.
“It’s something that I’m really trying to work on in terms of understanding how to make it more fair because you could get Steph Curry on your team, if he’s never played with those guys, and he is just playing in the EASL, it’s going to be at a disadvantage,” said Kerins.
“I think it’s important that we figure out how to get that roster fixed so that they could carry those two imports and they can have that experience together just like all the other teams do. But the other thing is the PBA does have different conferences and essentially plays 11 months of the year. Again, it’s the first season running this,” said Kerins.
Kerins said the EASL and the PBA are still determining the qualification process for the 2024-25 season of the international league. San Miguel could be in line for an EASL spot, having won the Commissioner’s Cup title.
The EASL executive said meetings with the PBA will ramp up once the Final Four ends.
“We are in Cebu, this is PBA territory. We had great support from the PBA coming here not just on the league side but on the events side. In terms of rules and regulations, there is an ongoing dialogue around that. There is an ongoing dialogue with all the leagues.
"I think after the season is finished, that conversation with the PBA is going to pick up a lot in terms of what we’ve learned as a league, all the feedback from all the different leagues on their questions and that’s the same with the PBA.
“We will try to address it all equally transparent with everyone. All of our discussions with Comm. Willie [Marcial], all of our discussions with Deputy Commissioner Eric Castro, all of our discussions with a lot of the key stakeholders have been very positive. We will make some adjustments as you do. It’s our first time this season but we want to make sure that it’s consistent against all the leagues,” said Kerins.
At the end of the day, Kerins believes the participation of the leagues in the EASL will improve the competition domestically and create new following for the players.
“I think what that does is it strengthens those teams and those leagues when they are playing against the best of the best. All of basketball is changing very quickly. Our job is you have two imports, if you consider them a local in your league, they are a local. That’s our policy. Going forward, there’s going to be fine-tuning with all the leagues. We want to make it as fair as possible,” said Kerins.
“The reality is we want Yuki Togashi to go on the court and Filipino fans say I see myself in him and he is a great player and I support him and we want Filipino fans cheering on him just like when we have Filipino players playing in Japan, they can say the same thing,” said Kerins.
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