The Incredible Shrinking Basketball PlayersHow to make it as a hoops star in the Philippines. Step one: Get shorter.

By Rafe BartholomewPosted Monday, May 21, 2007, at 11:54 AM ETA basketball player getting measured in the Philippines.Everywhere you look in the Philippines, there's a jerry-built basketball game. In farming towns without paved courts, kids dribble on dirt and bank shots off of two-by-fours lashed to coconut trees. On Manila street corners, players who can't afford sneakers run the court in flip-flops or bare feet. The country's professional players, however, play on state-of-the-art courts and wear top-notch apparel. Still, the Philippine Basketball Association is missing something just as fundamental to the game: height.Basketball is a tall man's game. But in the Philippines, where men are short and hoops is an obsession, something's got to give. Several native "big men" are barely taller than 6 feet 3 inches, the standard height for NBA guards. Dunks are so rare in the PBA that the league has toyed with the idea of making slams worth three points. The league adds a dash of high-wire athleticism by allowing each team to hire one foreign-born star. But permitting American 7-footers to play would wreak havoc among the Lilliputian locals. As a result, the PBA bans imports taller than 6 feet 6 inches.The rule works. The PBA's foreigners are a versatile bunch: pure shooters, workhorses who do a little of everything, burly inside operators. But while the imports typically dominate games, they still leave room for the best Filipino players—guards who whirl through defenses and score on twisting layups—to do what they do best.- I found this write-up weeks ago, and even published it on my blog before. I find it funny, having write-ups like these from abroad. Is this what THEY think about Philippine Basketball, OUR Basketball? WE really need to produce taller players, local players, and I hope the PBA considers having 7'0" imports. This will really help us improve our Basketball. They may be laughing at us, for now, because we are small in height, but with our BIG hearts, we know we can be one of the bests in the Basketball World soon. Let us continue to support the Philippine Basketball, OUR Basketball.Mabuhay ang Team Pilipinas.... AStig! - justAfan