Last night, an agent who reps several PBA imports had a series of tweets about another reinforcement campaigning in the Fiesta Conference. This import, she said, was definitely 6’8”, a couple of inches taller than the 6’6” height limit for foreigners in the tournament.

(Note: I’m not linking her tweets or mentioning her name because her profile is set to private.)

A media personality then replied that there were no other representatives from the other teams when the guy was measured. After another back-and-forth, it became apparent that the player they were talking about was Alaska’s Diamon Simpson.

Now, imports cheating about heights in the PBA is nothing new; Rafe Bartholomew wrote about the practice a couple of years ago on Slate:

Alaska’s current import, Rosell Ellis, has displayed a miraculous ability to shrink and grow over his five PBA seasons. In 2001, the league capped height at 6 feet 4 inches, and Ellis measured a shade over 6 feet 2 and a half. This season, with a 6-foot-6-inches height limit, he came in at almost 6 feet 5 inches. It's safe to say that Ellis, 32, didn't have a growth spurt. He told me that before his measurement in 2001, a coach advised him to make himself as short as possible so he could play in tournaments with even lower height limits. Ellis recalled the PBA’s knee-pushing henchmen doing their darnedest to straighten him out, but he locked his joints and pushed his head down toward the base of his neck. Behold, the amazing, adjustable-height basketball player!

Back then, pretty much every team was cheating when it came to import heights, but the PBA has since modified its method for measuring an import, now requiring the player to lie down for a more accurate measurement. Simpson was measured at 6’5 15/16” by the PBA.

Also, unlike in years past, actual measurements are more readily available for those who know the right resources. Simpson, a borderline NBA prospect after coming out of college in 2009, was measured at 6’7.5” barefoot at a pre-draft camp last year – a full inch and a half over the PBA limit!

(As a comparison, Derby Ace’s original import this conference, Lorrenzo Wade, was measured to be 6’5.5” by the NBA.)

It remains to be seen if this will become a full-blown issue, considering that Simpson has been an absolute beast for the Aces this conference, carrying them out of the stupor of a post-championship loss, and acting as the stabilizing force on a team that traded away its best local player. Then again, the PBA did give its stamp of approval to Simpson’s stint, so perhaps the buck has to stop with them.

The case is especially curious because of the involvement of the Alaska franchise. As Rafe discussed on Pacific Rims (as well as on this blog post), the team makes a lot of bones about following league rules, especially on maximum salaries, to the letter, with team officials led by owner Fred Uytengsu using it as a motivational tool for Alaska players.

But to a jaded PBA fan, this is just another case where the league’s rules fall by the wayside, just like salary cap violations, Fil-Shams, lopsided trades, collusion, and a million other things. It bothers me, but I don’t think too many people in the league lose sleep over these things anymore.

UPDATE: The always-awesome Fidel Mangonon tweets that Ginebra assistant coach Allan Caidic was actually present during Simpson’s measurement. So if the PBA measurement is accurate, does that mean that Simpson shrank?