PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said that the league will announce its sanction on TNT assistant coach Tab Baldwin on Tuesday for the controversial comments he made regarding the league’s officiating and import policies, as well as about local coaches.
The decision comes a day after the Gilas Pilipinas program director met with Marcial and other league officials via Zoom conference to air his side regarding the matter, which caused an uproar — especially among the Filipino coaching fraternity.
“Hindi kami natapos agad ng technical committee ko ngayon, so baka bukas ng umaga ipagpatuloy namin. Para siguro by lunchtime or after lunch, baka maglabas kami ng desisyon kung ano na,” Marcial told Tiebreaker Times.
Baldwin over the weekend personally reached out to the Commissioner to sort things out, which led to Monday’s meeting. And there, the 62-year-old apologized and said that he is ready to accept whatever decision the league will come up with.
“Okay naman, nag-usap kami. Nag-apologize siya,” Marcial shared. “Sinabi niya na he was taken out of context, so sabi ko okay. Sabi ko ito ‘yung venue, ito ‘yung tamang channel ‘pag may gusto kang sabihin.
“So sabi ko rin sa kanya na coach, may trabaho ka, may trabaho rin akong dapat gampanan, so I hope you’ll respect my decision. Sabi niya, ‘Yes Comm, I have no choice. I’ll respect your decision.’ So ganun ang tema.”
Baldwin has been in hot water following his guesting in the Tiebreaker Vodcasts’ Coaches Unfiltered presented by SMART last Thursday, where he said that the PBA’s single-import conference is a ‘big mistake’.
The Ateneo de Manila University chief bench tactician also expressed that Filipino coaches are “tactically immature” and accused the PBA referees of giving all of the rules latitude to imports.
The former chief bench tactician of the New Zealand men’s national team, however, clarified that he gave his commentary when he was asked ‘what surprised me when I first came to the Philippines’.
Several coaches have expressed offense in reaction to Baldwin’s comments, such as San Miguel Corporation sports director Alfrancis Chua, NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao, NorthPort chief mentor Pido Jarencio, and Letran head think-tank Bonnie Tan.
The Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines, headed by Louie Gonzales, has also denounced the statements of the former Olympian mentor, even issuing two statements to express their strong opposition.
Marcial shared that he had suggested that Baldwin issue a statement addressing all those who have been offended, but it will all depend on the former Gilas drill master if he will do such.
“Ang sa’kin, sinabi ko sa kanya na kung ako sa ’yo — hindi naman kita sa tinuturuan coach — e mas mainam magbigay ka ng statement or whatever para sa coaches, sa governors, sa PBA. Pero sinabi ko lang naman ‘yun, so depende pa rin sa kanya,” he said.
“Sinabi niya na Comm nirerespeto kita, kaibigan kita, alam mong ‘di ko gagawin sa ’yo ‘yun. So sinabi ko rin na itinuturing ko rin siyang kaibigan, ito yung sa’kin, suggestion ko lang. Depende sa kanya kung anong gagawin niya.”
