MANILA – The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is set to penalize Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas program director Tab Baldwin for his comments that were “detrimental to the league.”
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said on Friday that the Office of the Commissioner has yet to determine what punishment the league will impose to Baldwin, who works as a team consultant for the Talk ‘N KaTropa.
“Pinag-aaralan namin kung magkano fine niya o bibigyan ba namin siya ng suspension,” Marcial said in an interview with ESPN5. “May P10,000 fine pa nga siya sa’kin sa Ateneo-Cignal sa PBA D-League. Hindi pa nga niya binabayaran.”
The rough-talking Baldwin said during a Coaches Unfiltered podcast that there was a difference in officiating between locals and imports. According to the former Gilas Pilipinas head coach, this puts PBA players in a disadvantageous position once they suit up for international fixtures.
“We should never have a single import that is given all of the rules latitude that the imports are given here by the referees and by the administration of the PBA, and I do believe it is by the administration. I (also) do believe that it is based on the desire to have superstars as a marketing tool for the PBA,” Baldwin said.
“To put it in layman’s terms, a foul for a PBA player is not a foul for an import, and the foul for an import, that same foul on a local player, isn’t a foul. So, our local players are competitively disadvantaged in their ability to compete against the import players. This is not the case in other countries,” he added.
Marcial took offense on Baldwin’s assessment as the former said the referees have been working consistently with its calls towards local players and imports.
“(Para) sa akin, uncalled for ‘yun,”said Marcial. “Pwede naman niya akong kausapin. Nakakausap naman niya ako. Pwede niya ako puntahan sa office o sulatan.
“Wala kaming double standards sa tawagan. Kung ano ang tawag namin sa game one sa start ng season, sa lahat ng players, import ka man o hindi, hanggang finals pareho ang tawag namin,” he added.
On Baldwin’s one-import suggestion, the PBA commissioner said it’s something that’s being reviewed by the board for a while now before opining that the current conference formats are beneficial for the league’s players.
“Matagal nang pinag-aaralan ng board ‘yan. Nung araw pa ‘yan kung bakit one-import conferences. Pero may variety naman,” Marcial said, “Meron naman tayong mataas, meron namang import na mababa. May variety nga ‘yung ginagawa natin.”/PN
