Rather than take the controversy into a long-drawn fight which he knows he cannot win, Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner Chito Salud on Friday afternoon admitted to having done wrong in the controversy surrounding the Draft lottery.

“I have seen the video of the Draft lottery I conducted. I can now also see why people have expressed concerns, some even doubts,” Salud said in a text message sent to media, hours after Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, speaking in behalf of management, called for a redraw of the lottery.

“This is an entirely avoidable issue and I apologize to our fans, our teams and our coaches for the distraction it has caused,” continued Salud. “Improvements could have easily been instituted had I given this more attention.

“It simply did not occur to me that the whole process looked crude as coach Guiao called it,” Salud went on. “It may have appeared unrefined, but it was an honest draw. Improvements will be implemented anchored on full transparency (in the future).”

The video of Salud conducting the Draft lottery went viral just after it was done before tip-off of Game 1 of the on-going Governors’ Cup Finals between the Elasto Painters and Grand Slam-seeking San Mig Coffee at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The controversy stemmed from Salud failing to take his hand out of the box where he had placed three balls in – two representing Globalport and the third having the name of Meralco.

It was supposed to be just a simple draw – like someone pulling out the winning name of the winner of a raffle. Globalport had a 67% chance to win and Meralco the remaining 33%, which, in the understanding of many, Globalport would most likely win.

What happened next was a shocker: Salud failing to take his hand out after dropping the third ball and then pulling it out when he already had a ball in his hand, which, as can be expected, had the name of the team with the greater probability to win.

Yeng Guiao’s statement on Thursday night questioned the very credibility of Salud in running the league itself. He has all the ammunition to do so, by the way, simply because of that dubious incident.

I am no Salud fan, nor am I siding with Guiao, but the simple fact of the matter is that the commissioner failed to take his hand out as a show of transparency and it muddled up the minds of the viewing public and the belief of the very team affected by it: Rain or Shine.

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Rain or Shine was up in arms after that lottery because the Elasto Painters own the first round draft rights of the Meralco Bolts because of a previous deal.

Picking first in what could be a very lean pool come August could mean the world for any of the teams in the PBA, with Fil-American point guard Stan Pringle looming as the first overall pick.

So many things are being pointed at as to why Guiao reacted that way all of a sudden, the lottery, after all, happening two nights past and with the Painters just having equalized their best-of-five series at 1-1 after an exciting 89-87 overtime win.

What could have really touched off Guiao and team management’s wish for them to have the incident investigated by the board? Was it that non-call on a shooting Paul Lee which could have sent Game 1 into overtime?

My guess is that it was something else.

The day after that Lee incident in the dying seconds of the first game, the Office of the PBA Commissioner released a statement saying that the final play was a “50-50” scenario, that it could have gone either way.

The final words of the statement were: “It (final play) can be debated and second-guessed, but the referees’ judgment (in not calling a foul on Pingris) cannot be faulted under the circumstances.”

If you ask me, these are strong words to release and be read by one team still licking the wounds of a heart-rending loss. It may be pleasing for the winning team to read it, but for the one that just lost, it was like rubbing salt to a festering wound, as the cliché goes.

And the sad part about that statement was that Salud, being the commissioner, cannot simply say that it was a 50-50 scenario. Because as the commissioner, he must be able to determine what is right and what is wrong in any situation happening or concerning the PBA.

In short, the buck stops at his feet. Whatever kind of buck it is.

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Salud also put himself in chains with that statement, for how can he now decide a borderline issue in the league and come up with a resolution when one simple call, or non-call for that matter, had him coming up with something that said “50-50?”

Salud, a topnotch lawyer, knows that he should be the supreme court of the PBA. There are no more appeals after the chief justice decides on one case.

So where does Rain or Shine appeal that case? What happens if an issue crops up in the future and the team concerned wants a review of the case that needs a decision?

I sincerely do not believe that Salud rigged the lottery proceedings. It could have been mental lapse on his part. Plain and simple.

But Rain or Shine has every right to question it and feel aggrieved once again. This is not the first time that the Painters have been on the losing end in a controversy.

Remember the protest that Rain or Shine filed about two years ago that the Office of the Commissioner did not receive because it came in 10 minutes past the 12 noon deadline?

Guiao did not talk about that, but it is safe to say that it is one of the reasons why Rain or Shine management feels that it has always been on the shorter end of the stick, though the Office of the Commissioner had every right to reject the protest because of a technicality.

The PBA has taken great strides under Salud’s watch that it doesn’t need an issue like this to cast a dark cloud over what could be considered as another banner season because of the two expansion teams that were admitted and NLEX buying the Air21 franchise.

But things happen and what happened in the last three days certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouth to the ordinary PBA fan — the lifeblood of Asia’s play-for-pay league.

Salud may have gotten the support of most of the board members who issued separate statements expressing their full trust and confidence in the commissioner. But the sad fact remains that he may have lost the battle in the court of public perception.

And for some – including millions of the PBA’s fans – that could be the most important thing of all.