While most people will be discussing the huge event with NBA players taking place in the Philippines I thought I would take a moment to update everyone on what is happening in the PBA as the Governor’s Cup enters its second phase. If you want a nice perspective on what the visit of all these NBA players means to the Philippines check out what Filipino basketball expert had to say on the matter on HoopSpeak Live today. http://youtu.be/bysoXuYui3U I love his disbelief that they were actually able to organize this. It is pretty remarkable actually when you think that it was only last month that half of Talk ‘N Text’s players were stranded in the Dubai airport for a day because their tickets were not booked properly!

After the initial round robin phase six of the nine teams have advanced. Powerade, Meralco, and Air21 were unable to make the cut. Powerade showed a lot of improvement behind the strong play of Chris Porter and local star Gary David, but in the end B-Meg and Rain or Shine won the tie breakers based on the head-to-head matchups. Meralco had a tough conference as their gamble to switch imports after the fourth game from Champ Oguchi to Tim Pickett (Florida State, 2nd Round pick, and CBA veteran) backfired when Pickett went down with an injury in his third appearance. Air21’s conference was miserable as they went winless, going as far as shutting down Danny Seagle for the last couple of games. Do not worry though, Alpha Bangura still got his numbers!

Now to the teams that are still playing.

#6 – Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (4-5): Arizona Reid has produced as expected, averaging over 26 points and 15 rebounds per contest. To me though, the key for Rain or Shine is going to be the play of Gabe Norwood. His shooting numbers are down this season. While the Painters have a solid cast of local players, they have no clear cut second option at this point, and I think Norwood is the best bet to step into that role. Case in point was last night’s game where Reid dropped a conference-best 41 points yet the Painters still could not pull out the victory, losing 99-98.

#5 – B-Meg Llamados (5-4): Myron Allen will step in as the third import player of this conference after Darnell Hinson’s sudden departure to deal with a custody battle in the US. I am not sold on Allen at this point. I have watched him the past two seasons in the CBA playing for Xinjiang and Shandong and have seen huge inconsistency in his game. He will score 25 one game and then disappear the next. For B-Meg he will need to drive aggressively and create shots for his teammates. If Allen starts to settle for the 3 his team is in real trouble as he is a very poor shooter. The key is Allen realizing that B-Meg does not need their import to score 30 a game, but instead be a “glue-guy” and help Yap, Simon, and Devance play to their potential.

#4 – Alaska Aces (5-4): I did not like the signing of Jason Forte at the beginning of the conference, and I am still no convinced he was the best player available for the job, but Alaska has played well above expectations this conference. Forte and Thoss on the interior and Tenorio and Baguio on the perimeter makes them one of the most balanced teams. I still do not trust Forte as a shot creator, so one of the local players will need to step up during clutch time.

#3 – Petron Blaze Boosters (5-3): The Boosters had a tough break when Jeremy Wise went down with a knee injury, but his replacement, former Atlanta Hawk and seasoned international Anthony Grundy showed in his first outing that he can produce in the PBA. While he will not need to score 30 every game, like he did against Powerade, the Boosters are going to need him to score, especially from the outside. Alex Cabagnot is arguably the best pure point guard this conference, so playmaking and ball distribution are taken care of. With Santos and Al-Hussaini scoring in the interior, Grundy will need to shoot the 35% from behind the arc that he has on his previous stops.

#2 – Barnagay Ginebra Kings (5-3): Curtis Stinson’s PBA tenure was cut short by injury, but no loss for the Kings as they were able to pick up fellow D-Leaguer Donald Sloan to fill his spot. While Sloan is not the playmaker Stinson is, he is a more all-around scorer and a better shooter. Ginebra is stacked on the perimeter, but has no presence inside whatsoever. Sloan will have to keep rebounding at the level he has so far (8 a game) to help his team shore up the interior

#1 – Tropang Talk ‘N Texters (7-2): After 8 games with Maurice Baker and despite a 1st place standing TNT is going to the man they initially wanted for this conference: Scottie Reynolds. Reynolds will make this already explosive team even more so. In the last game of the round robin TNT dropped 140 points on Air21, and in the first game of the second phase they scored 103 on the tough defense of Alaska. TNT is the favorite, so everyone will be gunning for them, but their team is loaded enough to handle the challenge.

To show the quality of the imports this conference a quick tally regarding the pedigree of the import players is helpful. Of the 16 import players this conference 3 played in the NBA, 11 in the D-League, and the other two were D1 ballers. Not too many leagues can match those numbers in their import players.

If you have never watched a PBA game you are missing out on some real excitement. www.pba.ph has the full schedule and http://streampinoy.info/rpn-solar-pba-games-live-streaming.html has almost all of the games streaming.

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Sitting down to write while on vacation in Hawaii is extremely difficult. I have no idea how Chad Ford does it! I have let a lot of important things go uncovered over the past week or so, so I will try to catch you up country by country in the next few posts. I would do them all right now, but I need to get a little sleep before I watch the U-19 games!

Philippines

There is a lot of news coming out of the Filipino basketball world. First, Smart Gilas, the Filipino National Team, was able to secure a gold medal in the Southeast Asia Basketball Association (SEABA) Championships held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Despite battling numerous injuries and being without a few of their PBA stars, Smart Gilas was able to win every game handily. Once again, the Philippines proved their regional dominance.

The PBA has seen a lot of action as well. In a really cool move, the PBA is on the road this week playing in the United Arab Emirates. Home to between 300,000 and 500,000 Filipinos, the games should be packed. I have witnessed firsthand in Taiwan the passion that Filipino spectators bring to the stadium when a Filipino team comes to play. The teams should feel right at home in a loud and wild arena. The first-place Texters will look to maintain their perfect record and B-Meg today and Ginebra tomorrow.

B-Meg made the biggest personnel move of the week by sending Stefhon Hannah home and bringing in well-traveled pro Darnell Hinson. Hinson has been playing internationally for the past 7 years with stops in Latin America, Europe, and Australia. While I am honestly not familiar with Hinson, anyone who can average over 20 ppg in the Australian NBL is a pretty good ball player. Hopefully he will gel with the B-Meg squad and show a more consistent shot (shoot over 35%) than Hannah did. This move will be interesting as there are only four more games in this conference before the playoffs. Is that enough time for an import to come in and make a difference?

Indonesia

It has been a busy time for basketball in Indonesia as well. In the biggest news the Indonesian National Team was able to qualify for the FIBA Asia Basketball Championship in China in September by finishing 2nd in the SEABA tournament. The Indonesian squad were trounced twice by the Filipinos, but were able to defeat both Malaysia and Singapore to secure their place.

The NBL also hosted a visiting contingent of “NBA Legends” consisting of Cedric Ceballos, Cliff Robinson, Dale Ellis, Voshon Leonard, and others. While the list of players seems hardly “legendary” to me, the two games against the NBL Select Team brought out big crowds and increased exposure to the game and league. On the 22nd the NBL also hosted a launch party for the 2011-2012 season. At the party it was announced that games would be played in even more locations around the archipelago. With no announcement regarding import players, it looks like it will still be a purely domestic league next year.

I have been working on this article for over a month now. As you can see it is not an overly long piece, nor is it overly complicated in terms of statistical analysis or game strategy. So why has this taken so long to write? It comes down to the fact that no league is as apt to make last minute changes as the PBA. It was only after the first round of games that I can confirm the import players that are over here. The bonus is that I have had a chance to see all of them play now, and have a sense of how they will fit in with their team.

Talk ‘N Text is out to complete the rare Grand Slam by winning the final conference of the season, the Governor’s Cup. But competition will be fierce as it seems all the squads are making moves to shore up their weaknesses. With the strict height restrictions the PBA imposes the imports teams find are always interesting. How tall of a player teams are allowed to sign is contingent upon where finished in the earlier two conferences. For the Governor’s Cup BMeg, MGK, TNT, and Petron have a 6’2” height limit. Alaska, Meralco, Rain or Shine, and Air21 all have a 6’4” limit. After finishing at the bottom of the pecking order the Powerade Tigers are allowed a player up to 6’6”. Below is a look at who is here, who was rumored to be coming, and who may be going very soon. Of the 9 imports playing at this moment there is one NBA veteran, 6 D-League veterans, and two former D1 players. This collection of import talent may have the best resumes the league has ever seen. Whether or not that transfers well onto the court is another story all together.

Air 21 Express - St. John’s, NBDL and PBA veteran Alpha Bangura is back with Air 21 after a successful performance in the Commissioner’s Cup. He averaged 26 and 6 while leading the Express to the semi-finals. In his first two games of this conference he has shown a good connection with his teammates and gives them a player who can make a play when needed (except tonight during the last minute against Petron).

Alaska Aces – Looking for a player to shore up their frontline Alaska brought in Jason Forte. Forte is a well-traveled pro who played two games in the PBA a year or so ago. While I understand the need to fill a position, many other players must have fallen through for the Aces to pick up Forte. Frankly he is a solid all-around player, but he does nothing exceptionally well. In his first game he scored 16 points, grabbed 14 boards, and dished out 5 assists. While those numbers look good, it took him 25 field goal attempts (and 6 free throws) to score 16 points. Often the ball stopped rotating when it came to him and he tried to force the action. In his second game he scored 22 points, but disappeared for much of the second half. He showed a lot of hustle, but he can not be relied upon to get his team a basket when they need it. With an 0-2 record Alaska fans are already calling for his removal.Things will have to change quickly if he is planning on staying in the Philippines much longer.

 B-Meg Llamados – Up until a week ago the talk was that B-Meg were planning on bringing back Courtney Beasley for this conference. At the last minute though they decided to go after a D-Leaguer who made a name for himself this season with some big-time playoff performances: Stefhon Hannah. So far the Hannah experience has been a huge disappointment. He has yet to break double digits in either of his first two games and has shot an abysmal 18% from the field. And while he dished out 10 assists last game the critics and fans are actively calling for Hannah to be replaced as soon as possible.

Barangay Ginebra Kings– Coming off an MVP year in the D-League, Curtis Stinson may be one of the most high profile imports to ever join the PBA. Stinson should find great success in the PBA for two main reasons. First, in the D-League games I watched this season he excels at the drive and dish or kick out. Filipino ballers love nothing more than to hang out at the three point line ready to bomb away. Second, Stinson is around 215 pounds. He will be able to take his opponent into the post ala Mark Jackson. In his first game Stinson was as good as advertised turning in a solid all-around performance. He only scored 15 points, but added 9 rebounds and 8 assists. His coach, Jong Uichico, summed it up nicely “He’s okay as he competes, defends, plays the post and gets his teammates involved.”

Meralco Bolts – Meralco brought back former D-Leaguer and Nigerian National Team member Champ Oguchi for another conference. Oguchi was brought in half way through the Commisioner’s Cup and showed that he could produce at a high level in the PBA. Really not too much more to say, except that his 26 point and 10 rebound first game performance was right about normal for him. He continued with another high scoring output against the Alaska Aces tonight, including key buckets down the stretch to fend off the charging Alaska squad.

Petron Blaze Boosters – Playing for the first time with the Petron name, no team has been more active in the rumor area and evaluation of potential players. Initially the rumor was that they would be bringing in Will Conroy. After that fizzled they were rumored to be deciding between Bobby Brown (NBA veteran) and Ricky Harris (former UMass star and international pro). They announced they would bring in Harris before quickly changing their minds and deciding on Mike Taylor, the former D-League star and NBA player. Taylor supposedly was a beast in the preseason practices, but he then got hurt and is out for the next few weeks. So at the last minute they brought Harris back in, and he was pretty terrible in the first game scoring 8 points on 3/15 shooting and only collecting 2 assists. Others agreed with my assessment and Harris was sent home immediately after the game.

Game 2 of the conference for the Petron saw the arrival of D-League stud Jeremy Wise the morning of the game. Showing no signs of jet-lag or the fact he had never played with his teammates before, Wise starred with 33 points, 6 boards, and 6 assists. Wise looks to be the perfect compliment for Cabagnot who finished the game with 12 points and 10 assists. Most impressive of all was that Wise played within the team system and did not force anything. He is going to thrive in the break-neck pace of the PBA.

Powerade Tigers – Former NBA player and PBA import Chris Porter was brought in as a last minute replacement for the Tigers after their original import John Williamson went down with an injury. The first rumor I heard was that they would bring in Gabe Freeman, but nothing materialized on that front. Bummer. Porter was spectacular in his first outing and pretty average in his second. The Tigers are a pretty weak squad, and B-Meg learned early in last night’s contest that they would not be punished for double-teaming Porter throughout the game. At this point he is averaging 27.5 points and 13.5 rebounds a game.

Rain or Shine Elasto Painters – High Point University’s finest Arizona Reid is making his PBA debut this conference. Reid gets my “Most Likely to Make Me Forget Gabe Freeman Award” this conference, a huge honor as anyone who reads this blog regularly knows.  Before coming to our corner of the world Reid has played in leagues in Italy, Finland, Lebanon, and Switzerland. He plays with a ton of energy and can even hit an outside shot. Over his first two games he has averaged 30 points and 14 rebounds while leading his team to a 2-0 start.

Talk N Text Tropang Texters – Maurice Baker was named as TNT’s import for the third conference pretty late in the game. Originally Scottie Reynolds was the choice, but he recently sustained an injury while playing in another league so will be unable to come over. The TNT coach was quoted as saying they “went to the bottom of the barrel” to find Baker. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. With their strong Filipino squad, Baker will be looked to as a floor general to keep everyone together. A lot of pressure is riding on Baker here, as TNT goes for the elusive Grand Slam. While Baker had a solid first outing he is going to need to step his game up even more with the injury to star point guard Jimmy Alapag. Baker will have the difficult challenge of balancing scoring and distributing the ball.

I will make sure to provide further updates as the conference progresses, particularly if any of the imports are replaced. If anyone wants to know how to watch online send me a tweet @asiabballupdate.

Taiwan - Wednesday and Friday night double-headers this week taught us quite a bit about how the rest of the season is shaping up. The most interesting game was the Yulon vs. Bank of Taiwan match-up on Wednesday. This marked our first chance to see Yulon in action without Tseng Wen-ting manning the middle. The results were not pretty, as BoT easily handled Yulon.

Despite losing to Taiwan Beer Wednesday night, KKL was competitive the whole game. Shawn Hawkins seems to be finding his footing (and his jumpshot) and they are falling into a nice rhythm. The positive results continued on Friday night as KKL beat Taiwan Mobile to move out of the cellar.

In the other game on Friday Pure Youth pulled out a close game against Dacin in a battle between 2nd and 3rd place teams. Jones-Jennings had another massive game with 22 points and 25 rebounds. This guy really deserves a bigger contract in the future.

Japan - In JBL news, Aishin came away with the Emperor's Cup title. Regularly season action now finally resumes this week. In less positive news, the JBL has taken over the Hokkaido-based Rera Kamuy franchise after the team's ownership failed to pay multiple league fees and broke numerous league policies. They have fired coach Joe Bryant as part of the restructuring as well (aka cost cutting measures). In my opinion, this opens the door for the bj-league to enter into the Hokkaido market. As Niigata has shown, a team that struggled financially in the JBL can operate successfully in the bj-league.

The bj-league All-Star Game is this weekend. Hopefully I can put up highlights from the game soon.

Korea - As I predicted a few weeks back the the Samsung Thunder are making a push to join the group of teams at the top of the league standings. After a tough overtime loss to KCC Egis, Samsung has pulled off three wins a row, including a 15 point victory over 1st place Sonic Boom KT. With Aaron Haynes' continued all-around superb play, Samsung looks to make the league a four team race.

Philippines - Game one of the PBA Philippines Cup is tonight as the Beermen take on the Texters for the title. The teams split their two meetings earlier this year. The teams both field a balanced attack with multiple players capable of exploding for big games. Should be a fun series to watch!

ASEAN - Semi-Finals action this weekend. I am excited to watch the Patriots (and one of my favorites Gabe Freeman) take on the Dragons. The Dragons have an interior-focused offense now while the Patriots play a fast-paced style. It should be an interesting contrast.

CHINA - Is it weird that I was more excited to watch Lester Hudson play in China than I am to watch Rafer Alston? Hudson is averaging 23.3 ppg in his first three games, and Guangdong has won two of those games. Looks like Chinese teams are starting to figure out which kind of import is successful in their league.

Last year I started watching the PBA regularly for the first time in a decade. The PBA is perhaps the most amusing league to watch in the entire world if you can train yourself to suspend reality and forget about everything you have ever learned about fundamentally sound basketball. Anyway, last year I got the biggest kick out of watching Gabe Freeman play for both the Patriots in the ASEAN Basketball League and the San Miguel Beermen in the PBA. Freeman is the perfect import for the PBA as there is nothing Filipino fans enjoy more than passionate and hustle-filled basketball. Freeman is one part Artest, another part Rodman, and another part scoring machine without a jump shot (kind of like glory days Larry Hughes). While this may not sound enticing to anyone who knows basketball, it makes for the most entertaining import in the league. The best part is that no one seems to care that he can't shoot from the outside and is both foul and turnover prone. I think his San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen put it best when he paid Freeman the ultimate back-handed compliment: "He is not the most talented skill-wise . . . but you can't measure his heart!"

I am looking forward to at least five more ABL games with Freeman this year. Unfortunately if the reports are true, Freeman is well above the 6'4" height limit for the next PBA conference. Let's hope he has "shrunk" a little over the past year!