NLEX is right not to enter the PBA as an expansion team

In 1999, when the Tanduay Rhum Masters re-entered the PBA, they were allowed to directly hire six players from the amateur ranks including Mark Telan, Chris Cantonjos, and Eric Menk. They were also given the first pick of the 1999 PBA Draft where they selected Fil-Sham Sonny Alvarado.

Tanduay made it to the PBA Finals once, losing to Shell before bowing out of the league again in 2001.

In 2000, Red Bull was allowed to get six direct hires for their PBA squad. They took Kerby Raymundo, Davonn Harp, Lordy Tugade, Jimwell Torion, Junthy Valenzuela, and Bernard Tanpua from the PBL.

In 2005, when the Welcoat Dragons took over the Shell franchise, they were allowed to directly hire Jay-R Reyes, Jun-jun Cabatu, and Jay Sagad. They also got Rob Wainwright, Gilbert Lao and Denver Lopez from the expansion draft.

Welcoat was renamed to Rain or Shine and the franchise finally won their first PBA title in the 2012 PBA Governors’ Cup.

Next season, three new teams were supposed to enter the PBA as expansion teams. Blackwater, NLEX, and Team KIA were all given the go-ahead by the PBA’s Board of Governors to join the party. However, not a lot of concessions were thrown their way.

Instead of getting high picks in the 2014 PBA Draft, the three teams were given the last three picks of the first round. Instead of allowing the existing PBA teams to protect ten or maybe even eight players to give the three teams a good shot at getting serviceable players, the Board decided the teams get to protect 12, which meant the last two players on the bench, those who rarely get playing time will be available for the three teams.

All of these limitations could have been bearable if the new teams were allowed to get direct hires.

Tanduay got theirs in 1999. Welcoat also got theirs in 2005.

However, the the PBA's current era where the teams are stockpiling talent, the Board decided not to allow their teams to do a bit of sacrifice for league parity.

Tanduay failed to win a title and Welcoat had to wait for a long time which shows that direct hires are not an assurance of success. However, the current PBA teams just could not pass up on another shot at taking young talent from the PBA Draft.

If you ask me, the entire expansion draft is counter productive because the current PBA teams will only throw away their two worst players and then get one or two better ones in the draft. NLEX and Blackwater on the other hand will be picking from unprotected players while they'll be losing their best players to already loaded teams.

Cliff Hodge, Chris Ellis, and Calvin Abueva all came from NLEX in the PBA D-League. Getting them as direct hires from a few years back could have given the Road Warriors a shot at a decent showing in the PBA. Now they have Kevin Alas, Garvo Lanete, Jake Pascual, and even Rayray Parks. But they won’t be allowed to keep any of them.
 
Earlier today, the PBA announced through their Twitter account that NLEX will no longer enter the league as an expansion team.

“Applicant team MPIC-NLEX today informed the PBA Office of the Commissioner that it has decided to enter the league by acquiring an existing franchise, in lieu of entering the league as an expansion team,” the statement read.

“They noted that they are in the process of finalizing the acquisition of the current member-ballclub and will update the league as to further developments within a reasonable period after the last game of the member-team in the ongoing Governors' Cup,” it continued. “While the identity of the franchise sought to be acquired was not disclosed, MPIC-NLEX understands that the intended acquisition would have to undergo another round of approval by the Board of Governors.”

The decision of NLEX is a smart one. By buying a franchise, they will get to keep players under contract and if the team has picks in the upcoming PBA Draft, they will get a chance to nab some of their prized Road Warriors.

For example, if NLEX buys, say, Air21 (please note that this is simply an example), they will get a resurgent Asi Taulava, an All-Star level player in Joseph Yeo, an X-factor in Sean Anthony, a vastly improving Aldrech Ramos, and a slew of other veterans in Macmac Cardona, Mark Borboran, and Jonas Villanueva.

An expansion team built on a late first round pick, unprotected players, and free agents could not possibly be as good as Air21. Air21 could actually be Manny V. Pangilinan’s second best team as Meralco is currently in shambles.

The only question here is the money. If buying Air21, again purely for example, would cost less that the franchise fee and the deposit, NLEX needs to pay, then the decision is a no-brainer.

In making this decision, NLEX showed that having a PBA team is not nearly enough for them. They want a competitive team in the PBA and they are capable of making the right decisions to reach that point.

As long as they don’t hire Floyd Mayweather as their head coach, NLEX should be in good hands.