PBA sees big season; Welcoat bid deferred

Though year 2000 isn’t over yet, the Philippine Basketball Association is now bracing for its 27th season with league officials looking forward to another exciting year despite the economic crisis gripping the nation.

Deferring decision on the franchise application of Welcoat Paints, the PBA keeps a 10-team fold as it opens shop for year 2001 with the start of the All-Filipino Cup on Jan. 28.

The league holds its first official function when the PBA board of governors convenes in its annual general meeting on Jan. 10 where Mobiline’s Ignacious Yenko will be formally named the new board chairman, succeeding Alaska’s Wilfred Uytengsu.

Four days later, the Annual PBA Draft will be staged at the Glorietta in Makati where the 10 teams will dip their fingers in what could be the deepest draft pool in years.

Red Bull is likely to choose either former MBA star Willie Miller or Fil-Am player John Arigo as the first pick overall. Several MBA, Fil-foreign and PBL are expected to beat the Jan. 3 deadline for the draft application.

However, RP team mainstay Yancy de Ocampo has said he’ll keep his amateur status, probably waiting for the board approval of Welcoat’s franchise application in the pro league.

MBA star John Ferriols, meanwhile, signed a new two-year contract with the Negros Slashers, quashing rumors that he'll move to the PBA this year.

The PBA Commissioner’s Office decided to schedule an early start of the season to have enough room for any fortuitous event and avoid the spectre of games being played during the Christmas season as the league experienced this year.

The league is once again adopting the inter-intra format in the eliminations where the 10 teams are divided into two groups with each team playing its groupmates once and the rest twice for a total of 14 games. The best eight teams then advance to the usual quarterfinal playoffs.

Imports with a height limit of six feet and eight inches are once again featured in the Commissioner’s Cup with a tentative opening date of June 3.

Then the likes of Lamont Strothers, Ray Tutt are Brian Green are qualified in the Governors Cup where the height ceiling is 6-4. It is scheduled to start Sept.9. — With reports from Joey Villar