26 July 2020

History Shows That For A Shortened Season, Two Imports Is Good For The PBA

PBA Imports
With the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) cutting its 45th season due to the issues posed by COVID-19, there were calls for new innovations in the import-laden second conference, including a possible adoption of a two-import format.

The proponent argued that the presence of explosive players will inject more color and thrill in its games and possible increase in ticket sales just like what happened during the 1975 season.

Fans's interest was diminishing at that time and player's performance were considered mechanical and too predictable. The league adopted the two-import format and changed the mechanics by making the first six finishers of a one-round eliminations advancing to the next round.

With the foreign reinforcements showing the ways to the local boys, fans trek back to the Araneta Coliseum as the action got lovelier and more colorful. Three mild reversals punctuated the first round. Royal beat Toyota, 103-100 and Crispa, 129-114.

Crispa beat Royal to clinch the first berth and Toyota tore down Noritake to arrange the finals showdown with their bitter rivals. However, the best-of-five series, will go down in history as one of the most controversial PBA Finals ever.

With Toyota leading the series, two games to one, the Redmanizers did not show up for Game Four because of officiating issues and the PBA forfeited the game and the championship series in favor of Toyota.

The last time the league allowed teams to hire two foreign players was during the 2016 Governors' Cup.

During that conference, the top eight teams, after combining the results of the Philippine Cup and Commissioner's Cup, are allowed to get imports with a height limit of 6-foot-5 or 1.96 meters.

Meanwhile, the bottom teams are allowed to hire reinforcements with a height limit of 6-foot-9 or 2.06 meters.

All teams are also allowed to hire an additional Asian import but with a height restriction of 6-foot-3 or 1.91 meters.

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