Jones Cup nixed for RP 5

Bernardino said there’s no way the national squad can back out of playing in the Second Conference, called the Commissioner’s Cup, since the PBA has signed a contract for Selecta to sponsor its participation.

Besides, sources said, the Jones Cup – tentatively set sometime in July in Taipei – may not be held at all. Taiwan organizers are desperately courting national teams from Asia, particularly the Philippines, to commit to play but so far, the response has not been encouraging. If only clubs and youth teams agree to play, it’s likely the Jones Cup will be scrapped this year.

Still not certain is the import format to be used in the Commissioner’s Cup. The options are the Samsung Governors Cup format of two imports with a combined height limit of 13 feet, a single import with no height limit, or a combination of both where teams losing two or three or more players to the national pool may choose to use a single or two imports.

At the end of the Samsung Governors Cup, national coach Joseph Uichico will cut the pool roster from 27 to 15 or 18. The remaining players will form the team that is listed as the 11th entry in the Commissioner’s Cup.

Bernardino said in declining the Jones Cup invitation, the PBA is only following the program laid out by Uichico and his predecessor Ron Jacobs. "The plan is for the national team to play in the Second Conference and unfortunately, the schedule of the Jones Cup conflicts with the plan," noted Bernardino.

But is the national team playing in the PBA an exercise in futility?

A team source said it isn’t. He explained that in the Samsung Governors Cup, the coaching staff isn’t looking to win games as much as determining which players are willing to sacrifice for the good of the team. "There is a lot of experimentation going on, finding out who are quitters and who aren’t, which combinations click, which players sulk or don’t sulk when they’re taken out at a crucial point in a game," he said. "But in the Second Conference, you’ll see focus. Roles will be more clearly defined. You’ll see eight to nine-man rotations. It will be a different experience from the Governors Cup."

The same source added that playing in an invitational tournament on June 5-7 in Cantu, Italy, isn’t such a bad idea for the national team.