The 2018 Summer Super 8 had just ended last July 22. In a tournament that saw eight club teams from the East Asian region duke it out, it was the CBA’s Guangzhou Long Lions that came out on top.
But even after a successful staging, the organizers are not resting on their laurels just yet.
A couple of years ago, Matt Beyer, the former translator of Yi Jianlian in the NBA, had a vision.
“I just think there’s a huge lack in international club-to-club basketball competition in Asia.
“If you look at China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Chinese-Taipei, if you add the population of these geographies, it’s over 2 billion people. So there’s a lot of fans but no high level club-to-club competition. That’s the reason this was created,” Beyer shared.
For Asia, FIBA’s sole club tournament is the Champions Cup, the same tournament that Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas joined a year ago. But what Beyer envisions is the Asia League to be the East Asia’s version of the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League. And what better place to erect the league other than Macau — Asia’s Las Vegas.
However, Beyer knows that scheduling will be tough. The Philippine Basketball Association, one of the top league’s in the region, is working on a year-long calendar that features three conferences. That is why Beyer is in constant communication with the league and how the two leagues can work around it.
“We started the dialogue with the PBA and commissioner Willie [Marcial]. We’re trying to coordinate being able to make things work with the schedule and have teams released for the tournaments or just fit into the windows where they’re available,” Beyer relayed.
“I think we can work it out long term and I think this is good for the PBA and to the teams to play against different types of teams for a technical perspective and it should help to get the news out about PBA teams in other markets.”
For this year’s Super 8, two PBA club teams joined. The Blackwater Elite ended their run with a respectable 2-1 record while the NLEX Road Warriors were able to finish in fourth place.
Receiving high praises from the brass of both Blackwater and NLEX, Beyer is confident that more PBA teams will join the tournament come next year.
“We really wanted to get a foothold into the PBA and the two teams were great. They took it seriously, they’re having fun, they’re engaging the fans in the arena, they’re competitive, and they came here to win.”
But Asia League’s calendar features another tournament as well.
Come September, the Terrific 12 will raise its curtains. As of now, the two Philippine team slots have yet to be filled up. Beyer is hoping that one of those teams will be defending ABL Champions San Miguel Alab Pilipinas.
“I would’ve preferred to have Alab. I think we can work it out for the September (event). As long as its a Filipino club team and be competitive with the other teams,” Beyer disclosed.
Come 2019, Beyer is planning on expanding the no-import Super 8 to the Sweet 16.
