PBA body to review rules

MANILA, Philippines — A thorough review of the PBA rules is in the works as pro league Commissioner Willie Marcial said the newly formed Competitions Committee will convene on Tuesday afternoon with an ongoing survey of fans’ views a factor in determining what to add, revise or delete.

The Committee is made up of Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone, NLEX coach Yeng Guiao, Meralco coach Norman Black, Alaska coach Alex Compton, former Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio, PBA technical director Eric Castro and PBA technical supervisor Joey Guanio. 

Marcial said he will not be involved in the Committee deliberations but plans to sit in occasionally during meetings as necessary. He will study the Committee’s recommendations before submission to the PBA Board of Governors for approval, disapproval or revision.

“One of our goals is to standardize the philosophy of officiating to avoid shifting orientations depending on who’s the commissioner,” said Marcial. “We want something that will be consistently applied regardless of who’s in office. In the past, we’ve gone from ‘no harm, no foul’ to allowing incidental contact to taking away discretion from referees. Our rules are a combination of FIBA, NBA and our own PBA rules. We’re also listening to what the fans expect from the PBA, what kind of game they like. There’s an ongoing survey to bring out what the fans want and the Committee will take the findings into consideration.”

Castro said one NBA rule that will be reviewed is players calling timeouts during a live play. FIBA doesn’t allow it so when PBA players represent the country in FIBA competitions, the adjustment is major. In the recent past, Gilas players from the PBA were called for a five-second violation because they couldn’t call a timeout and the defense prevented an easy inbound. “Players being able to call a timeout has nothing to do with the PBA’s commitment to TV,” said Castro. “Maybe, we’ll conform to the FIBA rule which rewards a team for playing tough defense and takes away a bail-out by the offensive team. This will be subject to discussion.”

Marcial said another FIBA rule that may be introduced is the traveling interpretation. “In FIBA, a player is allowed a 1-2-3 step instead of 0-1-2 step in the PBA,” he said. “That will formalize the Eurostep which is also allowed in the NBA. There are FIBA rules that we are now applying to make our players more familiar with international rules and cutting down adjustment time when representing our country.” The FIBA rule on goaltending, for instance, is now a PBA rule so that a player may bat away the ball on the last free throw after a bounce on the rim.