American-New Zealander coach Tab Baldwin was fined P75,000 and slapped a three-game suspension by the Philippine Basketball Association for his comments deemed “detrimental” to the league.
The Commissioner’s Office of the PBA, headed by Willie Marcial, handed the penalties to Baldwin, an assistant coach of the Talk ‘N Text KaTropa, after hearing his side via a conference call on Monday.
Baldwin, who is also project director of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and coach of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, said sorry to Marcial after attracting controversy for his comments during the “Coaches Unfiltered” podcast on Thursday.
His comments during the podcast angered the PBA Commissioner, coach Yeng Guiao, San Miguel Corporation’s sports director Alfrancis Chua and the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines.
During the conference call that was also participated in by deputy commissioner Eric Castro and league legal counsel Melvin Mendoza, Baldwin apologized and said his remarks were “taken out of context.”
“I feel bad that (this) has happened but that is not my intention,” said the former Gilas coach.
During the podcast, Baldwin responded to a question on “what surprised me when I first came to the Philippines.”
He snapped at the PBA for its flawed format, saying its single import conference is a “big mistake.”
He also alleged that the imports enjoy an advantage in calls from the game officials, adding that PBA coaches are ‘tactically immature’.
“And the reason is they aren’t given the regulatory advantages by the referees that they’re given here. So in other words, put it in layman’s terms, a foul for a PBA player for a local player isn’t a foul on an import, and the foul of an import, that same foul on a local player isn’t a foul. So our local players are competitively disadvantaged in their ability to compete against the import players, and this is not the case in other countries,” said Baldwin during the podcast.
Despite the penalties he incurred with the PBA, Baldwin still enjoys the support of Ateneo Blue Eagles and his PBA team.
The Eagles are looking forward to three more titles during his time with the team.