Barrios challenges locals to show stuff vs imports

Source: By Joaquin Henson (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines - PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios said yesterday he expects the Fiesta Conference to be even more exciting than the recently concluded Philippine Cup as he challenged the league’s local players to stand their ground against the invading imports.

“The attendance figures in the last conference are extremely encouraging and we’re hoping to carry over the momentum,” said Barrios. “Fans are in for a big treat in the Fiesta Conference as looking at the credentials of our 10 imports, they appear to be all solid. Our locals will be surely challenged by the presence of the imports and you can be certain they won’t back down.”

In the last conference, PBA special assistant to the commissioner and media bureau chief Willie Marcial said the average paying audience from the quarterfinals to the finals was about 14,000. And during the four-game title series between Purefoods and Alaska, he noted an average attendance of over 15,000. In the quarterfinals, the Araneta Coliseum hosted 21,422 fans who packed the building to witness the clinchers in the Purefoods-Rain Or Shine and Barangay Ginebra-Talk ‘N’ Text series.

Barrios said he is doubling his efforts to improve officiating standards and vowed to get the job done. He has brought in lawyer Edgar (Aga) Francisco, a former PBL referee, to assist supervisor of officials Ramil Cruz and consultant Romy Guevara in the technical committee. Francisco and another lawyer Bieny Solis are Barrios’ consultants. Barrios’ previous consultants were the late Butch Cleofe and Chito Salud, both lawyers.

“When I was appointed commissioner in 2007, we had 21 referees,” said Barrios. “Today, we have 20. Since I came in, we’ve hired 10 new referees and 11 have moved on. In a sense, we’ve initiated a changing of the guard and we’re optimistic that it will lead to improved officiating standards.”

No new rules will be implemented and the same Philippine Cup tournament format will apply in the Fiesta Conference which starts today. But Barrios said the Board of Governors has approved new sanctions for a walkout.

“The fine for a walkout has been raised to P10 million,” said Barrios. “If a team walks out and returns before the 15-minute grace period, the fine will be P2 million. If a coach walks out but the team stays, he will be fined P300,000 and will not be allowed to return to the game.”

Barrios pointed out that the Board has agreed to extend the grace period for a walkout from seven to 15 minutes. He said even if a team returns to play within the grace period after walking out, it will not be spared a fine of P2 million because of the disruption and the show of protest.

Barrios welcomed the entry of imports in the Fiesta Conference.

“We’ve got five new faces and five returnees,” said Barrios. “It’s a good balance. Imports who play well are rewarded with a renewal so that’s an incentive. From their credentials, the five new imports seem to be spectacular players so we’re looking forward to seeing what they can do.”

The five new imports are Ginebra’s Awvee Storey of Arizona State, Barako Coffee’s Sammy Monroe of Newberry College, Alaska’s Diamon Simpson of St. Mary’s College, Derby Ace’s Lorenzo Wade of San Diego State and Air21’s Keena Young of Brigham Young University. The returnees are Talk ‘N’ Text’s Shawn Daniels of Utah State, Rain Or Shine’s Jai Lewis of George Mason University, San Miguel Beer’s Gabe Freeman of Costa Mesa Junior College, Coca-Cola’s James Penny of Texas Christian University and Sta. Lucia’s Anthony Johnson of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

As for Air21’s Wynne Arboleda, Barrios said he still has to receive an appeal for reinstatement. Arboleda was suspended the rest of the season for an altercation with a fan during a game against Smart Gilas in the Philippine Cup.

“I don’t know if an appeal is forthcoming although I’ve heard it is being crafted,” said Barrios. “If an appeal is submitted, it must contain very strong points to justify a reinstatement - otherwise, the suspension will remain until the end of the season.”

Arboleda is reportedly seeking the support of co-players in bolstering his campaign for readmission. He has so far enlisted signatures of Alaska captain Jeffrey Cariaso, Talk ‘N’ Text captain Jimmy Alapag, Coca-Cola captain Asi Taulava and Air21 co-captain Carlo Sharma in backing his bid.

Barrios said the league will make a conscious effort to market its stars like the NBA promotes Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony.

“Our teams have their fan base but we’d also like to establish our individual superstars,” said Barrios. “James Yap is one of our superstars and he’s clearly at a different level with his fan base. We’re hoping to develop more superstars. It goes without saying that players must first prove themselves on the court before they achieve superstar status.”

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