The 2011–12 PBA season was the 37th season of the Philippine Basketball Association. The season was formally opened on October 2, 2011 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, and finished on August 5, 2012. The season used three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup, or the traditional All-Filipino Conference. The mid season Commissioner's Cup featured unlimited height limit for imports. The Governors' Cup became the third and final conference for this season.
The first activity of the season was the 2011 PBA Draft held on August 28, 2011, at the Robinsons Place Manila in Ermita, Manila.
Board of governors
Executive committee
Chito Salud (Commissioner) Mamerto Mondragon (Chairman, representing Rain or Shine Elasto Painters) Jose Bayani Baylon (Vice-Chairman, representing Powerade Tigers) Robert Non (Treasurer, representing Barangay Ginebra Kings)
Teams
Pre-season events
Player movement
Key transactions: Trades: Rain or Shine traded Doug Kramer and Josh Vanlandingham to Powerade for JR Quiñahan, Norman Gonzales and Powerade's 2013 and 2014 second round picks. Barako Bull Energy, B-Meg Llamados, and Shopinas.com Clickers involved a three-way deal. Shopinas.com acquired Elmer Espiritu from Barako Bull and Brian Ilad from B-Meg, B-Meg received 5th pick overall Mark Barroca from Shopinas.com, and Barako Bull acquired Don Allado and future second round picks from B-Meg.
Notable occurrences
The PBA board approved the sale of the Barako Bull Energy Boosters team franchise from Photokina Marketing to the Linaheim Corporate Services, owners of the Air21 Express. The team will now be known as the Shopinas.com Clickers. The Air21 Express will be renamed as Barako Bull Energy starting this season. The name change occurred after the Lina Group bought 49 percent stake of Energy Food and Drinks Inc., a subsidiary of Photokina Marketing and the exclusive distributor of Red Bull Energy Drink products in the Philippines. The "Energy Boosters" moniker will be dropped and instead the team will be known as "Energy", since there will be a conflict in using the "Boosters" moniker with the Petron Blaze Boosters. The PBA board approved the 20% salary cap increase and the standardization of game bonuses on September 8. The player salary cap was increased from P350,000 to P420,000. The proposals were approved at the heels of an outburst by Alaska Aces owner Fred Uytengsu during the press conference announcing Tim Cone's resignation as head coach of Alaska. Uytengsu commented that the league is not a level playing field, with some teams paying their players more than the monthly amount set by the PBA.
Coaching changes
Barako Bull Energy (formerly Air21 Express) hired Junel Baculi as head coach, who also was the head coach of the Barako Bull franchise that disbanded in 2010. Baculi will be replacing Bong Ramos, who will slide down as assistant coach. On August 26, the Barangay Ginebra Kings appointed assistant coach Siot Tanquincen as co-head coach of the team, together with Jong Uichico. On September 1, Alaska Aces coach Tim Cone requested to be released from his contract, which is set to expire in 2013. Assistant Joel Banal will take over as head coach. Two weeks after resigning as head coach of the Alaska Aces, Tim Cone was appointed as the new head coach of the B-Meg Llamados. Richard del Rosario, who was appointed as acting head coach in August was demoted to assistant coach along with former B-meg head coach Jorge Gallent. Gallent later was reassigned as assistant coach of Petron Blaze.
Opening ceremonies
The season began on October 2 with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters defeating the Barangay Ginebra Kings, 94–93.
The muses for the participating teams are as follows:
2011–12 Philippine Cup
Notable events
Elimination round
Playoffs
Quarterfinals
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*Team has twice-to-beat advantage. Team #1 only has to win once, while Team #2 has to win twice.
Semifinals
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Finals
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Finals MVP: Larry Fonacier (Talk 'N Text) Best Player of the Conference: Gary David (Powerade)