Aces to release import if asked

MANILA, Philippines - Alaska coach Tim Cone said the other day the Aces are prepared to release Diamon Simpson if asked by the last two seeded teams allowed to sign up an import with a 6-6 limit in the PBA third conference or the Governors Cup this season.

Simpson powered Alaska to the Fiesta Conference crown last year. The import limit was then 6-6. Cone would’ve preferred to bring back Simpson for the Governors Cup but it doesn’t look the Aces will be given the privilege of hiring a 6-6 import.

Under PBA rules for the Governors Cup, the No. 9 and No. 10 teams will be permitted to recruit a 6-6 import. Teams ranked No. 1 to No. 4 will be restricted to a 6-2 import and teams seeded No. 5 to No. 8, a 6-4 import. The rankings will be based on each team’s performance in the Philippine and Commissioners Cups with the first conference allotted a weight of 60 percent and the second conference, 40 percent. Alaska finished sixth in the just-concluded Philippine Cup.

For the Commissioners Cup starting Feb. 18, Cone initially brought in former Chicago Bulls guard Eddie Basden but sent him back to the US after he was measured 1/4 inch over the 6-4 height limit by the PBA. Basden would’ve been a perfect import for Alaska and two weeks ago, led the Aces to an unbeaten 3-0 record in a mini-tournament in Cebu over Powerade, Meralco and M. Lhuillier.

“We signed up Eddie as far back as November,” said Cone. “We didn’t think he would measure over the limit. We should’ve asked Sean (Chambers) to look him over and measure him like he did with Diamon. About a week ago, when we thought there was a chance Eddie wouldn’t make the limit, we began looking for a backup just in case. It’s difficult not to have a backup. If your original import doesn’t work out and you don’t have a backup, you’re left to choose from guys who are floating around and those are the guys you probably don’t want in the first place.”

Cone said in the 2005-06 Fiesta Conference, the Aces also had to send back import Victor Thomas who measured over the 6-6 limit. It was three days before the conference started and Cone settled for 6-2 3/8 Artemus McClary. The Aces got off to a 1-2 start, lost five in a row and called in Odell Bradley to play the team’s last eight games. Alaska was never in serious contention and bowed to Red Bull in a sweep of the best-of-five quarterfinals.

Basden left Manila yesterday. His replacement L. D. Williams of Wake Forest University was scheduled to plane in last night.

Williams, 22, is fresh out of the NBA D-League where he averaged 10.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 32.2 minutes with the Springfield Armor. His high game was 21 points against Erie Bay. At Wake Forest, Williams averaged 8.5 points in four years. More known for his defense than his point-making, Williams was described by writer Brett Friedlander as “the ultimate glue guy.” Friedlander added,

Meanwhile, the PBA Board of Governors is set to reconvene today. The main item in the agenda is to decide on what channel to air the second and third conference games.

Solar Sports owns the rights to produce and show the PBA on TV up to the end of the year but is seeking Board approval to move the games from a VHF channel – RPN – to Studio 23. The TV-5 network has offered Solar a P60 million bail-out to pay for the production of the telecast on condition the games will continue to air on RPN. But Solar has refused the offer as RPN will undergo a major reformat without the PBA or NBA. TV-5 officials argued that moving the PBA out of RPN in the middle of the season will be detrimental to efforts of improving viewership. The Board had previously agreed not to move out of a VHF channel.

If the Board insists to stay on a VHF channel, Solar will reportedly relinquish its PBA rights. A PBA source said if Solar gives up the rights, it will be penalized P5 million and charged about P65 million which is owed to the league.

If the Board agrees to the shift to Studio 23, Solar will continue to produce the games and use the ABS-CBN channel as a block-time vehicle until the end of the season. “We just need a network to carry the games because RPN is reformatting,” said a Solar source. “The free NBA games will also move to Studio 23 with the finals to be shown possibly on Channel 2.”