MANILA (Enzo Flojo's Asia on my Mind) - The new FIBA Competition System was explained to local and international media at the recent FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Manila, and it caused quite a stir.

For sure, it will shake things up and change the game, quite literally. It is set to put a lot of pressure on pro leagues and national federations to assemble competitive national teams that will play in the different qualifying windows and tournaments.

There really are two big changes that will drastically affect basketball in the Asian context.

Perhaps the biggest change is the addition of two new countries to the region - Australia and New Zealand, both of which have had a stranglehold on the FIBA Oceania region practically forever. Of course their entry has a huge impact on the pecking order of Asian basketball. I mean, over the past three or four years, countries like China, Iran, the Philippines, Korea and Japan have been rotating at the top three or four of the different competitions. This time around, however, with the Aussies and Kiwis coming, things are about to get a lot more crowded at the top of the hill. Australia are ranked just outside the top 10 in the FIBA World Ranking Men, while New Zealand are right outside the top 20. Almost automatically, those two teams will be at least among the top four of every Asia-Pacific competition they join, so that really puts a lot of pressure on the traditional Asian powers to make adjustments to their approach in every tournament. No longer will China or Iran be the odds-on favorites every year. Instead both of those countries may as well be underdogs when ranged against the two new kids on the block.

Still, I think this particular change is a good thing. Eventually, it will benefit Asian countries. This is because the only way for teams in Asia to really close the gap or catch up with the countries from the Americas or Europe is to go up against much stronger sides, which is exactly what the Boomers and Tall Blacks are. I was having conversations with a lot of very opinionated people during the Manila OQT and they all pretty much agreed that having Australia and New Zealand would certainly increase the level of play in the region. I mean, just imagine the possibilities. Starting next year, the prospect of having not just one but at least a handful of bona fide NBA players in our region suddenly becomes real. Games featuring the Aussies and Kiwis will surely draw in more than the usual crowds, which is good for the sport’s exposure and growth.

For teams like the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Jordan and Lebanon - teams always on the bubble - this presents an opportunity to improve by leaps and bounds. Playing against top quality opponents like Matthew Dellavedova, Dante Exum, Ben Simmons, Steven Adams and Tai Webster should bring out the best in Asia's brightest and force them to push their limits. This is something I have observed in Southeast Asian basketball - teams like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have improved significantly with the advent of their regional pro league, the ASEAN Basketball League - and it’s easy to imagine the same kind of rapid improvement happening at the Asia-Pacific level. I mean, sure, in the next couple of years, the Boomers and Tall Blacks will probably dominate leading up to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, but I wouldn't put it past the Chinese, Iranians, Filipinos, Koreans and others to eventually catch up and be much much more competitive when the qualifiers for, say, the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup or the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 commence.

The second big change that I think will affect all countries is having FIBA Qualifiers windows in February, June, September and November of each year in addition to the world-level and continental cups that will take place alternately every other odd-numbered year (i.e. FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2019, 2023, 2027; FIBA Asia Cup in 2021, 2025, 2029). This is huge because it significantly affects the calendars of domestic leagues. These windows will serve as the time when qualifying games will be played for either the FIBA Basketball World Cup or the FIBA Asia Cup, and this means that countries are expected to send nothing short of their best available talent. I like this because we will have home and away games, which should really enable the sport to boom in a lot of markets. What I am honestly a little apprehensive about is whether all leagues and national federations will readily and fully commit to align their calendars with these FIBA competition windows.

In all probability, I can easily imagine most leagues in Asia (e.g. the CBA, KBL, B.League, SBL, IBF Superleague, LBL etc.) adjusting their calendars and playdates. Having "international windows" is not new to most Asian countries, since they see it in football, which is deeply ingrained in most of their sporting cultures. Many of their sporting bigwigs will probably have the mindset that "If it can be done it football, we can do it in basketball". I don't see a problem with that, and, frankly speaking, with many Asian leagues ending around March or April, the windows shouldn’t pose much of a problem.

I cannot say the same in the Philippines, though, where the pro league (the PBA) and the national federation (the SBP) have always had some trouble forming the best possible national team. It's ironic, yes, because Filipino hoop nuts are known worldwide to be the most passionate, but, mostly because of commercial and political factors, the ideal national team situation has never really seen the light of day. Even now, with the advent of the new competition system closing in, it is still unsure if the PBA is willing to completely align its complicated schedule (case in point: the complete set of playdates for this season’s final conference haven’t been released yet) with the FIBA competition windows. This is the main reason why people foresee continued problems with trying to gather the country's best basketball players together for constant training in a sizeable national pool, and this, in turn, is the main spark for the SBP pushing for the formation of a Cadets squad, which is essentially a group of many of the most talented amateur players committing full-time to the national team instead of moving up to the pros.

I mean, sure, Gilas Pilipinas have had a good run these past few years, but how many continental titles (i.e. FIBA Asia Championship and FIBA Asia Cup) have the side won since the program’s inception in 2009? None.

At the end of the day, I see the new FIBA Competition System really pushing countries, teams and federations to further improvement, but only if they adjust and align properly. If these countries want extraordinary growth, then they must undergo extraordinary change.

Enzo Flojo

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.