The Philippine Basketball Association: An Analysis
I am no expert on global leagues, and like most casual basketball fans, I only know my fair share of the NBA, and the national league local to you. Though I will dive into it with good old research.
What better league to analyze other than the NBA, than the PBA or Philippine Basketball Association, the main and most popular, but the not only league in the Philippines, my home country. Though to be honest, though I grew up here, I've always been watching the NBA growing up, which means I know very little about the PBA, its history, and kind-of just watch from afar.
To be clear, this is an analysis of the league for its current and future basketball talents. What makes it an alluring league for the world's top basketball talent, what is currently holding it back, and what can bring it to the next level.
Brief History:
Having its first tip-off in 1975, the PBA is the longest-running basketball league in the world outside the NBA. The league consists of 12 company-branded franchise teams, and the league rules are a hybrid of FIBA and NBA regulations.
Arguably the league's glory days were in the 80s, due to the powerhouse team led by Jaworski's "never say die" Ginebra San Miguel squad, going up against rival-team the Tanduay Rhum Masters.
Since then, the league has grown to be respected, not in the NBA, but in the basketball world, seeing former NBA imports with the likes of Wesley Matthews Sr., Terrence Jones, KJ McDaniels, Reynaldo Balkman, Alonzo Gee, DJ Mbenga, just to name a few.
Pros:
1. Fanbase - Being the oldest league in Asia and for most of the world, the PBA is relatively established with a massive fan base not only to Filipinos in the Philippines but to Filipinos around the world, amounting to millions of fans. To give you an idea, the PBA's official Facebook page boasts over 4M likes, which does not even account the fans have not liked the PBA's account on Facebook, which in itself is a whole lot. To add perspective, the arguably second most talented league in the world, the Euroleague's Facebook page has 743,346 likes.
It is no secret to the basketball world that Filipinos on any social media make noise if there is any correlation to Philippine basketball, which has actually been infamous for the most part. Though in my opinion, that is just what comes with a passion for the sport, and honestly no other than Filipino fans have passion for the sport that is on the next level.
The discussion of basketball in the Philippines being engrained in our culture is very much apparent in many ways, this would be a whole essay to discuss it all.
2. Talent - This is something more on the border, but as a frequent spectator of the league, the talent in the PBA, I think is extremely underrated, not necessarily world-class talent but I would affirmatively say it should be gaining more attention. We are small but we make up for it with being tough, we are underskilled compared to the top leagues in the world but we make up for it with heart or as we call it, 'puso'. If you were a fan of the NBA in the late '90s and early 2000's the PBA still resembles that kind of play, still very much dependent on the post, and is gritty, very gritty. No doubt that it is fun to watch. If you want to see a good demonstration of this, watch the FIBA Asia run of the Philippine team back in 2013, led by 5'9 Jimmy "Mighty Mouse" Alapag. Inspiring, absolutely inspiring.
3. Increased effort of marketing for the league - not many are aware but this is a vital piece to how any league in the world runs. Like any business, the product (good basketball) has to be paired with good marketing. This includes merch, social media, and connecting to the masses via mobile among others. This has been done successfully in recent years through its partnership with TV5.
Cons:
1. Players Salary - Let's face it, this is still professional basketball we're talking about, like any job, good compensation makes the job much more attractive. The minimum salary for a PBA player is at Php 70,000 (USD 1,390) monthly and maximum veteran salary excluding incentives is at Php 450,000 (USD 8,935.72) monthly. Pretty low if you compare it to the import minimum of the top league in Asia, the CBA's $1M per season minimum for imports.
2. No cities involved with the teams - This, personally is a huge factor as to why I don't watch the PBA as often as I should. I've always argued that these 12 company-branded franchise teams which represent brands and not cities makes no sense to me, for the reason being, it is a huge missed opportunity. As mentioned earlier, the Philippines' massive fanbase, matched with the close-proximity 16 cities in Metro Manila can easily make a full league. It is not a logistical mess and it just makes sense. This is mainly for the fans. City pride is much stronger than brand pride. Besides, these companies that brand these teams can just be the main or sole sponsor.
Filipino fans have little choice but to flock to the clearly strongest team, which has been a common trend for decades. This is best shown by a survey from the Social Weather Station (SWS) conducted in 2008, wherein the percentage of supporters per team was shown as Ginebra and Purefoods (which both got 31%), are Magnolia (21%), Alaska (13%), Sta. Lucia (5%), Red Bull (4%), Talk N' Text (3%), Coca-Cola (1%), and Air 21 (1%).
This is also the reason why the PBA's biggest rival, Manny Pacquiao-owned MPBL has been gaining massive speed within recent years, as every team represents a city. Is that the Philippine league for the future? That's for a discussion later on.
3. Top Talent Retention - The future of Philippine basketball is brighter than ever with the first full-blooded Filipino, 7'2, 18-year-old Kai Sotto signing with the NBA D-League. Also backed by recent NBA-level Fil-Ams such as Jordan Clarkson, Jalen Green, and Bobby Ray Parks (Parks is debatable). This is definitely a good thing for the landscape of Filipino basketball, but not the best thing for the PBA.
This is because the clear-cut best talent the Philippines has does not see the PBA as a viable option, but chooses overseas ball as a better option. It makes perfect sense to them, to be visible for the NBA draft but that is part of the problem for the PBA. The PBA eventually should strive to be a place to look for NBA-level talent. At the level, skill-wise we are just far from it but there is no doubt that the future is bright for the Filipino basketball youth.
4. Height - There has always been debate as to why Filipinos are such fans of basketball when we are clearly 'built for football'. This is especially apparent due to the Philippine basketball squad's underperformance during their last outing in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, falling dead last with a 0-5 record. This is usually blamed on Filipinos just typically being smaller in stature, with the average height for a Filipino male being at 5'4.25 inches it is no surprise that this is a common debate. We love to see under 6' players excel in the sport but let's face it, there is a physical advantage to being taller in playing basketball. This will always be a hurdle for international play, though it will not stop us, I believe in being one of the top teams in Asia because of the passion for the sport.
Also, just a hunch but the next generation seems way taller. Maybe something in their food is different? We have yet to see. It's not too late for the Filipinos. You can start by asking Kai for his secrets.
5. Rules for Imports - The PBA currently only accepts non-Filipinos for their two top tournaments, the Commissioner's Cup and the Governor's Cup. While the Commissioner's Cup only allows imports 6'10 and under, the Governor's Cup only allows 6'5 and under.
I understand where the PBA is coming from with these regulations, they want this to be a league dominated by Filipinos. Though if you ask me, allowing fewer restrictions, and adding incentives for imports will only make the PBA, and its players better. One reason being, this will accustom the PBA players to foreign basketball, hence making them better on international basketball tournaments.
Second, this is a brilliant marketing strategy. There is no better timing than now for this with top US talent keeping overseas play as an option over college ball we have to try and reach that tier of players, as this has proven to work with Immanuel Mudiay for the CBA, LaMelo Ball for the ABL, among many others in the Euroleague. This will bring the much needed global attention the PBA needs to excel.
In conclusion, there is still so much promise for the future of the PBA despite its many flaws. Most of the pain-points are already being addressed as we speak. Definitely, a league to pay attention to within the next few years. I would say less attractive than it should be to foreign talent and scouts due to regulations, but the future is brighter than ever.
This is a result of research, I will devote more time to watching genuine Filipino basketball to understand how we play in the PBA, not just from research and watching inconsistently from time to time. Especially since I plan to write about the PBA even more in the future. If there are any points I missed from you devoted PBA fans, let me know!
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