Comish meets comish

Finally, the two commissioners met. Noli Eala of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) talked shop with David Stern of the National Basketball Association (NBA) during a formal dinner reception at the plush Four Seasons Hotel in Saitama, Japan, last Friday.

Eala and PBA media bureau chief Willie Marcial went to Saitama last Wednesday to observe the proceedings of two NBA regular season games between the Seattle SuperSonics and Los Angeles Clippers. They came back last Sunday.

"I learned a lot," said Eala in the PBA office yesterday. "From how the NBA does its in-venue entertainment to how they efficiently deploy staff for operations. It was quite an experience. I also got to talk to Commissioner Stern and NBA executives about tying up in the future, perhaps in relaunching the PBA next year."

Aside from the NBA bigwigs, Eala also spoke to players like Rashard Lewis, Keyon Dooling, Olden Polynice and former PBA imports Ansu Sesay and Richie Frahm, both playing for the Sonics.

Eala enjoyed conversing with Stern who knew a lot about Filipino basketball. "It was a honor to meet him," said Eala. "He asked about Commissioner (Jun) Bernardino and mentioned he heard about his health problems. I told him Commissioner Bernardino is enjoying his retirement and doing fine. Commissioner Stern was impressed at the way Filipinos are very knowledgeable about the game. Someday, he’d like to see NBA games played in Manila. When I told him we probably couldn’t afford it, his reaction was let’s take it a step at a time."

Eala said in exploratory talks with other NBA executives, he found out there are plans to bring two players to Manila next year, then four and so on. Mark Fisher, head of NBA China, said the idea is "to do it slowly" until the Philippine market is primed to welcome more NBA players. A format under study is to play exhibition games splitting a handful of NBA players into two teams with Filipino teammates.

Eala said importing the Sonics and Clippers to play two games in Saitama involved a budget of $4 Million. Ticket prices averaged $200 with the best seats going for $500 each. The NBA mobilized 50 to 60 staff from the US, China and Hong Kong to take care of the event.

Eala also conferred with Singapore-based ESPN senior vice president for programming Manu Sawhney in Saitama and reopened talks of putting PBA games on the world-wide cable network. He had a "substantive" discussion with NBA Asia’s Phil Hayes-Brown who was well-informed of developments in the PBA.

"Phil knew about plans to relaunch the PBA and liked the idea of opening the season in October," said Eala. "That will allow NBA players to visit us in September and help in launching our season. He’s interested to find out what the coming PBA season will look like. I asked him about the NBA’s junior programs to support recreational basketball for kids and he promised to send material which I’m hoping to adopt to local conditions."

Bumping into Sesay and Frahm was a pleasant surprise. "Ansu told me I look familiar," said Eala. "He recognized me from doing games on TV. He asked about Commissioner Bernardino and Norman (Black). He remembers the PBA fondly and said he’ll always cherish his Manila experience. Richie’s proud to have played in the PBA. He asked about Frankie (Lim). When I told him Talk ‘N’ Text won a title, he said he knew it was just a matter of time with Asi (Taulava) playing so well."

Frahm told Eala he had six suits made in Manila and wore a brown, three-button outfit for the dinner reception.

Sonics coach Nate McMillan said he heard about the PBA from former teammate and ex-import Vince Askew. He asked Eala who the top imports were this season. Eala rattled off the names of Artemus McClary, Damien Cantrell, Scott Burrell and Lenny Cooke. McMillan said Cooke almost made it to the Sonics lineup once.

"Lenny’s a great player but a little young," said McMillan. "His game is not yet mature. Someday, he’ll play in the NBA."

Eala said he spotted players Elton Brand and Antonio Daniels–who brought his beautiful girlfriend–in the reception crowd.

"I saw how the NBA works," noted Eala. "A table official told me in the NBA, the policy is to limit or lessen the judgment of referees by putting parameters like the no-charge zone. Basketball is a game of lines and time, he explained. It’s a lot less judgmental if we implement the rules according to parameters. I saw how they arrange the table, how the referees prepare for a game. I looked at how they handle the stats, how they relate to media, what timing devices they use. For the in-venue entertainment, I noticed how it was so well-planned and precise. The Sonics mascot Squatch was fantastic and got the crowd going. Never a dull moment. Everything went like clockwork. I thought the trip was helpful and very significant for me as a learning experience."

Eala said the 19,000-seat Saitama Super Arena–where the finals of the next World Basketball Championships will be held in 2006–was "spectacular." He continued: "Strictly state-of-the-art, spacious. The fans were terrific–they stayed until the end of each game, never mind the score. It was like basketball isn’t the No. 3 sport in Japan. The fans loved the action. The merchandise was sold out. The TV coverage was unbelievable–four main cameras, nine floor cameras, a 16-camera setup."

Marcial said he shook hands with Stern, too. "Sabi sa akin, any friend of the Commissioner (Eala) is a friend of his," related Marcial. "Once, he saw me from a distance, winked at me then slowly walked up, saying P-B-A, P-B-A. Maloko rin pala si Stern." Marcial said Stern gave him an NBA pin that he will keep as a memento of the trip forever.

Marcial did his homework diligently in Saitama, taking down notes on how the NBA does things and visualizing possible application to the PBA–of course, when not ogling the stunning Clippers dancers imported from Los Angeles for the two-game show.

Marcial said it was obvious the NBA has a high regard for the PBA. "Iba ang tingin ni Stern kay Com (Eala)," said Marcial. "Kitang-kita, there was mutual respect."

NBA Asia head Mike Denzel personally invited Eala to attend the Saitama extravaganza.

Other Filipinos who flew to Saitama to witness the games were Mart Miranda and Sienna Olazo, the NBA’s local event organizers.