Explaining Thailand Basketball, ABL, and TBSL

Over the past few weeks, I have been updating the player movement in the ASEAN Basketball League and in Thailand. This has led to large number of people asking me both publicly and privately the same question: Why isn’t Thailand in the ASEAN Basketball League this season?

[อ่านภาษาไทย คลิกที่นี่เลยครับ]

The ASEAN Basketball League is a professional basketball league for teams in the ASEAN community (with some recent exceptions). This upcoming season that will kickoff on the 25th of November will be the 7th season of the league. The teams participating this season will be the defending champions Westports Malaysia Dragons (Malaysia), Singapore Slingers (Singapore), Saigon Heat (Vietnam), Alab Pilipinas (Philippines), Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions (Hong Kong), and Kaohsiung Truth (Chinese-Taipei).

As you might have noticed, there is not a single team from Thailand.

This will be the first ever season without a representative from Thailand. For the each of the past 6 seasons, at least one team from Thailand has participated in the ABL:

Season One: Thailand Tigers

Season Two: Chang Thai Slammers

Season Three: Chang Thai Slammers, Bangkok Cobras

Season Four: Sports Rev Slammers

Season Five: Hitech Bangkok City

Season Six: Hitech Bangkok City, Mono Vampires

Season Seven: None.

For a nation that has produced 2 championship teams to suddenly have no participating clubs at all is quite shocking. Thai players have always been a colorful part of the ABL whether it was ASEAN MVP Attaporn Lertmalaiporn, Star Player turned Team Manager Piyapong Piroon, feared sharpshooter Ratdech Kruatiwa, high-flying Wuttipong Dasom, or wispy ball wizard Kannut Samerjai. The timing is even more confusing with last year’s sudden influx of three high-level Thai-American players (Tyler Lamb, Moses Morgan, Freddie Lish).

Hitech Bangkok City were coming off a Semifinal finish following a Championship run. Last season’s ending was a bit disappointing and underwhelming, but the situation didn’t seem too far beyond repair.

The Mono Vampires suffered a miserable maiden season in the ABL with only 3 wins over 20 games … but the future looked bright with the local talents that they had on their team. It seemed like it would only take a couple of polishes in the front office to form a force to be reckoned with in the league.

Alas, here we are with the ABL season about to kick off and none of the two promising clubs in sight.

What the hell happened here?

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Here’s one rumor that needs to be immediately debunked right off the bat:

The ABL has new rule limiting each country to one team, so the Thai teams decided not to join if they both weren’t able to join.

While that does sound like a nice gesture by both teams in standing up against the league, the theory falls short for a significant reason: the ABL has no such rule about limiting one country to one team, despite what some reports might say. If there is already one team from a certain country in the ABL, the league would probably need a greenlight from the former team if they can accept the second team to join. This is to prevent problems concerning teams acquiring sponsorship and so forth. However, there is no rule forbidding so.

So what was it that caused the two teams to back off?

One thing us fans need to understand is that the ASEAN Basketball League currently has no prize money (as I know of). Teams battle it out season long for one-year bragging rights of being the best professional basketball club in the league. That could cause a financial burden when considering that the team has to shoulder other costs throughout the season as well.

According to sources and a post via Hitech Basketball Club, both Hitech Bangkok City and the Mono Vampires sat down and tried to figure out if there was a way that they could still play in a competitive league while not having to shoulder the costs of playing in the ASEAN Basketball League.

And thus, that moment birthed the Thailand Basketball Super League.

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The Thailand Basketball Super League first made it’s buzz publicly a little while after the TBL Finals when Mr. Pete Bodharamik, president of the Mono Group, mentioned in his celebratory post:

เตรียมพบกับ Thailand Basketball Super League (TBSL2016) ในช่วงปลายปี – มาดูกันว่า Mono Vampire จะผ่านบททดสอบกับทีมระดับ Asean ได้หรือไม่

or

Prepare to experience the Thailand Basketball Super League (TBSL 2016) later this year. Let’s see how the Mono Vampire’s will fare against ASEAN level competition.

The league was then again mentioned in the Hitech Bangkok City Facebook post linked above, a couple of days before the “TBSL” Facebook page emerged.

Details of the league fluctuated depending on your source, but the common information was that there would be teams from other countries in the ASEAN region participating as well. At least 6 of the teams from the TBL would be participating in addition to 2-4 international teams. Import regulations were expected to differ as well, raising the limit from 2 to 3 for World Imports and 1 to 2 for ASEAN Imports. However, only 2 World Imports and 1 ASEAN Import would be on the court at a time. All games will be played at Mono’s Stadium29.

All of these details swirled around the rumor mill, differentiating here and there. The league was supposedly proposed to tipoff in November (as hinted by Mr. Bodharamik and mentioned by Hitech).

However, sources say that in the Board’s recent meeting, it was agreed that the league should be postponed until after the New Years and would be held from January to April instead. Couple that with the recent events in Thailand, and it was more than reasonable that the league had to wait before being able to resume action.

So with both teams looking for a cost-saving alternative that would still keep their teams in competitive shape, they made one themselves.

Let’s take a look a deeper look.

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Benefits of the TBSL:

We’ve already started talking about the direct financial benefits of the teams playing in the TBSL. For the participating Thai teams, this means that there is no more burden of paying for participation fees/flights/accomodations along with a lower per diem for players. There is also a rumored million baht prize money on the table, which means the Champions might even make money from playing here.

In addition to the costs saved, playing in Thailand also aids in the media coverage of basketball. It would be easier (and more enticing) for various media outlets to be able to cover the TBSL. The target market group would have interest in all of the games, rather than just the games played by the Thai teams in the ABL. Most importantly, Mono Group (who handles the media of the TBL) would have a much more content and much more control on the media in the TBSL than they would have had in the ABL.

The League also benefits for Thai players as a whole, as it gives them more games to play in. Maybe not so much difference for the Mono Vampires and Hitech who would be playing 20+ games in the ABL, but more for the other teams like Mono Thewphaingarm, Madgoats, OSK, and PEA who would otherwise be in idle mode during this period. Now with the TBSL (3 months), TBL (3 Months), Division 1/TBDL (1 month?) Thailand basketball players will now be in competition condition for more than half a year. This also gives the basketball federation more chances to look at talents to add to their national team pool.

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Benefits of the ABL:

It’s not only about the level of competition of the ABL that draws attention, it’s also the variety of competition in the ABL. The Thai teams would have gotten to play against the top clubs of each country, which usually means playing against the top players of each country as well. Teams and players are exposed to different styles of basketball, which are cultivated differently in each area. Players and coaches get a chance to get used to playing against a certain player and a certain style, which helps raise the level of competition once it comes to international play. While the TBSL is trying to do this by getting teams from other countries, it’s hard to get the same top notch level players when the majority are committed to playing in the ABL already.

The ABL also plays in a home/away system, which means that players are going to experience the feel of playing in front of a hostile crowd which is something you can’t get playing at one venue in the TBSL. This might seem like a small factor now, but it could play a bigger role once the new FIBA schedule kicks in where teams have to play in a home/away system as well.

Finally, one of the biggest advantages of playing in the ABL is the sensation of being the pride of a nation. Unlike in a local league where a fan would need a more detailed rationale to follow a team, teams participating in the ABL usually get a large following merely because they represent a certain country. Not only that, you also get to expose your team (and brand) to an international market. That exposure to the international market could be a great pitch for sponsors as well, which would help subsidize the costs of playing in the league. Playing in the ABL connects the participating teams together and widens out our reach.

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Verdict

It all depends on which perspective you are looking from. It’s a tough choice to make as a team owner.

(in retrospect though, there might not have been a choice to make if the leagues were held on schedules that didn’t overlap…)

From a personal standpoint (and I highly emphasize on personal here), I’d prefer playing in the ABL. There’s obviously nostalgia playing a role in my preference here (since my start at basketball blogging went off with the ABL) but in my point of view, it’s what would be the best for player development in Thailand. Thai players get to play with elite talent from surrounding countries in hostile environment which prepares them for international competition. They’ll learn to adapt to different individual styles of offense and defense, other than the ones most have been playing against since high school.

And there’s also that air of national pride of the ABL. Even though there would be 2 (or even 3) teams from Thailand in the ABL, it’s always fun to root for a team under the Thai flag. It’s a unique feeling that it quite hard to duplicate.

Still…

I completely understand and respect the decision of the team owners. They overlook their entire basketball organizations, which covers more than just the basketball operations.

It’s not always going to be a basketball decision.

There are clearly benefits on both sides of the fence and losses as well. Whatever the case, this is the sort of decision where you could go right (or wrong) either way you choose.

And in any scenerio, we are still going to have basketball.

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What do you think? Do you prefer your team playing in the ASEAN Basketball League? Or do you think this Thailand Basketball Super League is the better way to go?
Any way, we will be getting basketball so don’t be afraid to share you opinions anywhere on our social media accounts or in the comments section below:

  

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ช่วงเวลาที่ผ่านมาสองถึงสามสัปดาห์ ทาง Tones & Definition ได้คอยรายงานการเคลื่อนไหวของผู้เล่นต่างๆ ในแวดวง ASEAN Basketball League และวงการบาสในประเทศไทย
และมันก็ได้จุดประเด็นคำถามจากผู้อ่านหลายๆ คนว่า “แล้วทำไมปีนี้ไม่มีทีมจากไทยแข่งใน ASEAN Basketball League ละ?”