Cancelation of the 2021 ACQ Bubble: A Big Concern for PH Hoops

Unfortunately, Gilas Pilipinas won't be playing in Clark for the third and final window of the 2021 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup qualifiers after the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) announced on Tuesday that the Philippines' hosting of the February window has been canceled. 

"We've exerted a lot of effort into our hosting of the upcoming Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers and this is why it is with great sadness that we announced it is no longer going to happen." the federation said in a statement. 

While the cancelation was forced by the travel ban enforced by the national government to prevent the entry of the new strain of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), the said cancelation will have an effect on the future of Philippine sports in general. 

On Tuesday's episode of Jump Thru Hoops, Jinno Rufino and Aaron Atayde shared their thoughts on the cancelation and its effects- particularly how the local leagues will move forward this year if they don't do a bubble tournament similar to what the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) did in Clark last year and the National Basketball Association (NBA) in Orlando. 

As Aaron Atayde pointed out, "I think all the leagues have figured it out that it's way, way, way too expensive to do a bubble to the point that even the NBA realized that it's way too expensive to do a bubble," 

"The PBA did it and they did successfully but they had a lot of help. They had a lot of help in executing that bubble in Clark. Now, I don't know how things would be in terms of if there is no bubble, how the PBA will proceed?" Rufino said. He also shared that he has talked to some PBA players during the latter parts of the Clark bubble last year who said that they were mentally prepared to go inside a bubble this year.

For Atayde, the idea of seeing a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) or a University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) bubble has been shot down after the February Clark bubble has been canceled. "I think that's the biggest thing here. I don't know how 'cause it's easier if you're the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases) to say 'Okay. We're gonna allow professionals, grown men to handle their own business'"

Atayde added, "I think this is what has popped the potential UAAP bubble because that's way too expensive and if they do it in a semi-bubble or a team bubble like the European leagues do it, I don't know. These are kids. Bars are suddenly opening up,"

Atayde asked, "How are you gonna tell a kid in college not to go out?"

While the cancelation of the FIBA bubble in Clark might be the first of what's more to come in 2021 for Philippine basketball, Rufino has this to say: "It's tough. It's a tough scenario but we just gonna have to adapt to it. We all have to understand that this is for the foreseeable future. It's gonna be this way,"

Photo is from the San Miguel Beermen