In hindsight, it's a good idea.
You have a guest team - an invader if you will - and a bunch of teams protecting their turf. This is a novel idea and it's not even an original idea. Once upon a time, the U.S.A.'s Nicholas Stoodley won the 1980 PBA Invitational Championship. As of research, I learned that Nicholas Stoodley is a clothing brand and its moniker in the PBA is Fashion Makers.
Eww.
Also in the conversation is legendary Brazilian player Oscar Schmidt, who played in the PBA in 1977 as part of Brazil's Emtex Sacronels.
With that said, it feels as if all the problems of Philippine basketball played a part as to why the Bay Area Dragons are poised to score the PBA Governors' Cup victory.
For the first time in years, the PBA isn't the ideal destination for collegiate and Fil American blue-chippers. This season, we have seen Matthew Wright, Roosevelt Adams, and Kiefer Ravena leave their respective squads. Yes, Will Navarro has finally joined Northport but he also had issues with his supposed KBL stint which is why he had to honor his contract.
The Philippines is a basketball-loving nation and yet, it has been a fact even before the pandemic that Metro Manila is too busy to watch basketball inside the stadiums and even in front of their television.
Also, brands owning a PBA franchise aren't cutting it anymore. We always have this excuse that San Miguel, Magnolia, and Ginebra are well-loved because of tenure and winning tradition. The thing is, when was the last time a non-SMC squad even won a tourney? Since the 2010-11 PBA season, the non-SMC teams have only won nine championships and six of them came from the TNT KaTropa.
Moreover, it's insane that the last Alaska championship happened ten years ago.
No wonder they called it quits.
And these are the problems for Bay Area to exploit. The Dragons play in the EASL - which is basically an East Asia version of the Collegiate Champions League. They are a super team under the tutelage of master strategist Brian Goorjian.
Again, they are a super team and this explains why 75 percent of the teams participating are either underdogs or cannon fodders.
When the NCAA Season 98 Finals happened, we saw Northport team manager Bonnie Tan calling the shots for the Letran Knights and Ginebra ace playmaker LA Tenorio as part of his coaching staff. With that said, we also saw Northport coach Pido Jarencio, Terrafirma coach Johnedel Cardel, and SMC basketball director Alfrancis Chua amongst the notables behind their bench. This is insane - considering that with the exception of the rookies, only Robert Bolick, Jonathan Grey, and Roi Sumang haven't seen action in the SMC teams or with Terrafirma. As for Team Dyip, while it's odd to see Alex Cabagnot going from Crunchman to his current "winning" state, maybe this is part of his post-basketball process.
The point I am making is that obviously, there are things we fans see that the PBA hasn't been seeing. I am not saying they really "Thanos" their teams, but what better way to shake things up than to switch to a city-based program with a semblance of workable pawns?
Even Rain or Shine Yeng Guiao - a polarising critic who knows what he's saying (since he is a former commissioner in his own right) thinks the league gave Bay Area a lot of leeway by bringing a super team to fight the SMC teams and the other impoverished squads. Who wants to cheer a team who has little to no fans as it is against a smorgasbord of top stars?
Sure, the PBA still has the best basketball players in the nation but with the basketball opportunities and situations all lining up, they might need a change. The NBA is classic example of a league that has evolved. Say what you will about Adam Silver and his policies but they did made the All-Star Game enjoyable and I mean the play-in just made the league a little more unpredictable.