PBA defers trades on floor

MANILA, Philippines - PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa said there will be no trades on the floor during draft proceedings at the Midtown Atrium of the Robinsons Place Manila this afternoon but qualified it will only be a temporary deferment.

“I’m new on the job and I don’t want to make mistakes in deciding whether or not to push through with a trade on the floor,” said Narvasa whose engagement began last Aug. 1.  “I’ve talked this over with the coaches and we all agreed to dispense with trades on the floor only for this year.  It would be counterproductive if we approve a trade on the floor only to void it later in case there are issues that warrant a rescindment.  I’ve asked for more time to be familiar with the players.”

Narvasa said since joining the PBA, only two trades have fallen on his lap.  One involved Rain Or Shine trading Jervy Cruz to Globalport for Jewel Ponferada and the Batang Pier’s second round pick in today’s draft.  The other involved Jimmy Alapag coming out of retirement to join Meralco in a three-way trade that took Mike Cortez and James Sena from the Bolts to Blackwater and Larry Rodriguez from the Elite to Talk ‘N’ Text. Narvasa, however, noted the Alapag deal was already in the works before his PBA appointment.

Narvasa said deciding on whether a trade is fair or not requires a thorough review.  “I want to create a process,” he explained.  “I want to be convinced of the basis and that means not just looking at the end result but also checking on statistics, physical condition and the length of a player’s career.  I want to set up standards.”

Narvasa said unlike in the NBA where there are only two rounds of drafting, the PBA won’t stop the selection process until every team passes.  With 64 draft applicants and 12 teams in the league, the exercise could go to a sixth round.  Last year, the draft took in 41 players through four rounds but expansion franchises Blackwater and Kia were the only teams allowed to choose beyond the second round.

Narvasa said he would’ve liked to play a background role in today’s draft.  “I asked TV5 if I could just be in the background and give the focus to the teams, coaches and players,” he said.  “Wouldn’t it be more exciting if the coaches were to announce their picks instead of the commissioner?  After all, the commissioner has no fans.  But that would’ve entailed more microphone setups, more adjustments in the TV coverage so maybe, we’ll make the changes for next year.”

Narvasa said in his administration, a priority will be to keep communication lines open.  “We want more coordination especially with our referees,” he said.  “There will always be misunderstanding so we want everything to be cleared right away.  This is a give and take relationship.  From now until the season begins, I intend to visit the coaches with some of our referees and talk about how we can all work together to make the league more successful and more exciting.  I’ll explain our officiating philosophy.  I think it will be easier to work games than before and also easier to make corrections.  We want the basketball court to be a place of order.”

Narvasa said he’s not appointing a supervisor of officials at the moment.  “I will take on the responsibility of being the supervisor at the start,” he said.  “I want to be actively involved in supervising our referees especially at the onset.  But I’ll have a rules specialist beside me whenever I watch the games. That specialist will come from the ranks of our referees.  I will also choose the supervisor from our existing pool of referees.  I want to give our referees a chance to become the supervisor so they have something to aspire for.”

Narvasa said the current pool consists of 14 referees and he’s looking to add two or three more.  “I’m not classifying the referees in the A, B or C categories because as far as I’m concerned, they should all be class A,” he said.  “I will guide them.  I want everyone to get the chance to prove they deserve to be Class A. I don’t want to handicap a referee by classifying him B or C.  We’ve got a month and a half to two months before the season starts.  I want to orient our referees during that period. In my mind, referees should not be adversarial or confrontational.  Referees should earn the respect of coaches and players.  We should all help each other out and make the PBA better.  Most of the coaches and Governors are my friends. But I was hired not to be their friend but to protect the PBA, to be their partner in making the PBA a more dynamic league.”

Narvasa said his concern is the game has sometimes deteriorated into a wrestling match.  “The basketball court is not an octagon for mixed martial arts,” he said. “I know basketball is a physical game but how do we control excessive physicality?  Rules are rules and I want them to be followed so that referees can’t influence the game with too much discretion.  For instance, a foul on Beau Belga may be hard on others but soft because it’s Belga or vice versa.  A foul by Belga will always be hard but may be soft on others.  I want to take away that interpretation.  A foul is a foul and referees should call it by the rules. If we explain how we’ll make calls, everyone will understand it’s for the good of the game.  A referee’s role should be preventive in nature.  The role is simple.  A referee blows his whistle to call a violation, voices out the violation and makes hand gestures to explain the call.  The bottom line is we want to play basketball and we want to let the players play according to the rules without the referees exercising discretion.”