PBL to open doors to teams from provinces

There was a time when the Philippine Basketball League, then known as the Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL) paraded talented teams from the South like Mama’s Love, Lhuillier Jewelry and later Montana Pawnshop, which immensely contributed to the league’s success. Future pros Jojo Lastimosa, Samboy Lim and Al Solis were some of the resident stars of Cebuano companies Mama’s Love and Lhuillier, which defeated the Ato Agustin and Leo Isaac-powered Hope Cigarettes in the PABL finals in 1986. Montana Pawnshop is a company based in Davao. Alex Compton and Gary David were some of their former stars and they helped the squad become one of the most successful teams in the PBL.

The PBL, a proud league now battling for survival, is trying to bring back its old glory by opening franchises to the provinces once more. “We’re now working the groundwork of opening franchises for the provinces. Coaches Joe Lipa and Eric Altamirano are helping me with that," PBL Commissioner Chino Trinidad told GMANews.TV. But Trinidad, the longest-tenured commissioner of this amateur commercial league, said his immediate concern is to keep the PBL’s “survival." With several teams on leave, the league regarded as the breeding ground of future superstars in the professional level, has been struggling lately in terms of participants. “While our next steps are focused towards opening franchises sa grassroots, our immediate concern right now is yung survival natin this season. We have experienced our toughest test. Once naitawid natin itong 2010, it will be great for the league," added Trinidad. Several teams have decided to take a leave from active participation, including Oracle of businessman/sportsman Mikee Romero and Hapee Toothpaste of Cecilio Pedro. Explaining their non-involvement this year, Hapee Toothpaste’s team manager Bernard Yang said: “It’s simply because we don’t have quality players right now. The PBL’s ruling of imposing an age limit to players had certainly affected our team’s preparation." The PBL has a set an age limit rule for players, who should not exceed the age of 25, to be eligible to play in the league. For Yang, it’s one of the reasons why there’s a dearth in quality players in the pool. “Dati ang composition ng teams namin, meron kaming mga veterans and meron kaming mga future stars and we were successful with that - so as the other teams," said Yang. “And because of that, yung PBL noon exciting panoorin dahil may balance of power eh, pwede rin mga ex-pro na kailangan ng exposure for another return ticket to the pro league," he added. - GMANews.TV