PBA institutes rule changes

Some of the brightest minds in basketball got together to take up possible rule changes in the PBA last week. PBA commissioner Willie Marcial hosted the meeting at the league office in Libis and members of the newly-formed Competition Committee sat down to discuss proposed rule changes with technical director Eric Castro, technical supervisor Joey Guanio, technical/operations assistant Junior Bengua, operations/business development manager Rosc Teotico and supervisor of officials Boy Cruz. The Competition Committee is made up of coaches Tim Cone, Yeng Guiao, Norman Black and Alex Compton and former coach/Meralco alternative governor Ryan Gregorio.

The meeting took over two hours as the proposed changes went through the wringer. One of the proposals was even put to a vote. That concerned the proposed removal of the player’s timeout. In FIBA, players aren’t allowed to call timeouts. But in the PBA and NBA, players may call timeouts during a live play or in inbound situations. The difference in the rule has caused some apprehension because PBA players represent the country in FIBA tournaments such as the FIBA Asia Championships and FIBA World Cup qualifiers. During a recent FIBA qualifier, the Philippines was whistled twice for failing to execute an inbound within the five-second limit. Clearly, players aren’t used to forcing an inbound pass because in the PBA, a ceasefire may be called in bailing out an inbounder under defensive pressure.              

The argument to remove the player’s timeout wasn’t just anchored on aligning with the FIBA rule. It was also to reward a defensive team for the effort. On a live play in the PBA, an offensive player who is hemmed in by the defense may call a timeout to bail out. In FIBA, that’s not possible.

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One coach said removing the player’s timeout takes away a critical element in strategy and tactics in the PBA. Another coach said it may be too drastic to erase the rule right away and suggested a period of adjustment. Finally, one coach came up with a compromise – remove it but keep the player’s timeout in the last two minutes to preserve the option in strategy and tactics. The five-man committee voted on the compromise which was carried by a slim vote of 3-2, to be effective in the third conference. Marcial said he would convey the recommendation to the PBA Board of Governors for ratification.

Castro explained that the proposed rule changes are aimed to bring the PBA game closer to how it’s played in FIBA, to accentuate physicality without tolerating dirty or unnecessarily rough action and to promote fair competition. Teotico said the technical group was guided by findings from a social media survey of PBA fans. The findings affirmed that fans prefer a fast-paced, physical and fair game to characterize what is called “Larong Pinoy.” 

Teotico defined “Larong Pinoy” as a game that is played with heart, “walang maarte, yung hindi basta-basta sumusuko kahit malaki na yung lamang, yung nagpapakamatay para sa bola ... showing hustle and energy, hindi angal ng angal.” The findings were culled from data collected from PBA twitter and Facebook accounts on Feb. 27-April 10 with a total of over 780,000 people reached and more than 20,000 reactions, comments and shares.

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The Committee agreed with the technical group’s recommendation to reduce 30-second timeouts from three to two, one per half. On the issue of goaltending, the Committee suggested key tweaks. In the past, touching the backboard in a shooting situation was an automatic goaltending. The suggestion is it won’t be an automatic call unless there is clear obstruction of a conversion. Another recommendation was not to make touching the net an automatic goaltending in a shooting situation unless it is pulled. It was also agreed to fine players for flopping and make the pulling of a jersey a regular, not deliberate, foul. Those tweaks were later approved by the Board for immediate application.

The technical group said it is studying the reviewable options during a game. At the moment, the reviewables are the landing spot call, flagrant fouls, end of period baskets and whether a shot is a three-pointer or not. In the last two minutes of a game, the reviewables are goaltending, out-of-bounds plays or last touch and 24-second shot clock violation. The group is suggesting reviewing in the last two minutes of every quarter whether a successful field goal or foul is within the 24-second shot clock.