Now that the 2014 Philippine Cup has been handed to the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers, the attention of all ten (soon to be twelve?) teams is going to be diverted to the season’s second conference — the Commissioner’s Cup. The unique feature of this conference, of course, is that teams are allowed to employ “big” imports. This is in contrast to the third conference, or the Governors’ Cup, where teams are allowed only the services of “small” imports.
In this particular conference, unlike in the Commissioner’s Cups of 2012 and 2013, there will be a height limit imposed on the teams’ imports, and this limit is based on how well each team fared in the previous conference. Because they finished in the bottom two spots of the team standings, the Air 21 Express and the Meralco Bolts have the luxury to choose imports who can be as tall as 6’11 (around 210cm), while the rest of the field can employ imports who are, at most, 6’9 (around 205cm).
This is a bit of a strange rule because it gives the impression that height equates to talent or skill, which, of course, is a non-truth in sports. I would much rather have had the bottom two teams be allowed to employ a second import, or, more specifically, to follow the model of the Chinese Basketball Association, where, generally speaking, weaker teams are allowed to have Asian imports aside from the “general” import. This is why guys like Zaid Abbas, Jackson Vroman, Sam Daghlas, Samad Nikkhah Bahrami, Hamed Haddadi, and even our own Marcus Douthit have been able to play in the CBA. That, I think, would have raised the level of competition better.
Anyway, I digress. I’m here basically to look at the ten imports who will show their wares in the 2014 Commish Cup. Traditionally, PBA teams rely heavily on their imports for practically everything, from scoring, to rebounding, to defending, and, in some cases, even playmaking. The expectations are extremely high (which explains their skyrocketing salaries), and the pressure can really take its toll.
In this first part of this series, we will look at the imports of both Air 21 and Meralco. These are, respectively, Herve Mamadou Lamizana of the Ivory Coast and Darnell Jackson, formerly of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In this particular conference, unlike in the Commissioner’s Cups of 2012 and 2013, there will be a height limit imposed on the teams’ imports, and this limit is based on how well each team fared in the previous conference. Because they finished in the bottom two spots of the team standings, the Air 21 Express and the Meralco Bolts have the luxury to choose imports who can be as tall as 6’11 (around 210cm), while the rest of the field can employ imports who are, at most, 6’9 (around 205cm).
This is a bit of a strange rule because it gives the impression that height equates to talent or skill, which, of course, is a non-truth in sports. I would much rather have had the bottom two teams be allowed to employ a second import, or, more specifically, to follow the model of the Chinese Basketball Association, where, generally speaking, weaker teams are allowed to have Asian imports aside from the “general” import. This is why guys like Zaid Abbas, Jackson Vroman, Sam Daghlas, Samad Nikkhah Bahrami, Hamed Haddadi, and even our own Marcus Douthit have been able to play in the CBA. That, I think, would have raised the level of competition better.
Anyway, I digress. I’m here basically to look at the ten imports who will show their wares in the 2014 Commish Cup. Traditionally, PBA teams rely heavily on their imports for practically everything, from scoring, to rebounding, to defending, and, in some cases, even playmaking. The expectations are extremely high (which explains their skyrocketing salaries), and the pressure can really take its toll.
In this first part of this series, we will look at the imports of both Air 21 and Meralco. These are, respectively, Herve Mamadou Lamizana of the Ivory Coast and Darnell Jackson, formerly of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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| Herve Lamizana of Air 21 (left) and Darnell Jackson of Meralco (right). (composite image by Enzo Flojo/HoopNut) |