Oh my! I forget to post my analysis on the Draft. Sorry for the delay... Been too busy at work. Better late than never!
1. Sta. Lucia – Kelly Williams. SLR is looking for a player who can do everything, a super-athlete… No wonder they changed their team policy on hiring half-Filipino players. Good and bad for Williams, good in the sense that he can showcase his talent right away. Bad is that his wear rate will be fast ‘cause he will be asked to (wrong! he needs to) play the 2, 3, 4, and 5 positions (whew! hopefully, not at the same time), and worse, there’s no such thing as help. Take that!
2. Air21 Express – Arwind Santos. FEU. A multi-awarded, player, during his amateur ranks, will have to battle for minutes against mainstays Ranidel de Ocampo and KG Canaleta, who plays the same position. #19 fans, prepare to see him wearing another number.
3. Coca-Cola – Joseph Yeo. DLSU. The Ninja, as they called him, has a lot of work to do. He is an undersized slasher, and has a limited range. (tsamba ‘pag nakashoot ‘yan ng jumpshot, that’s all). What nice with him is: (drums) introducing! PBA trash talks. Who will emerge as Payton’s protege: Yeo or Caguioa? Basically, I don’t know what the Coca-cola management is up to.
4. San Miguel Beer – LA Tenorio. Ateneo. Olsen Racela is retiring very, very soon. And they are locked on picking Tenorio since last year. That’s why the previous team (Coke) chose the next available talent.
5. San Miguel Beer – Gabby Espinas. Phil. Christian Univ. The only ROY/MVP in NCAA histoty. Best available big man. Height is a prime commodity here. Especially when Ildefonso plays hurt (? Ang sabihin mo, larong mayaman na!)
6. Sta. Lucia – Mark Isip. FEU. Played alongside Arwind all of his carreer. Got easy shots whenever Arwind was covered by two defenders. Wished Sta. Lucia took Arwind, choose RJ Rizada afterwards, traded for Denok Miranda, pirated coach Koy Banal. They have Cesar Catli already. (F na F!)
7. Alaska – Aaron Aban. Letran. Leaping ability is also a ticket to the professional league. It brings excitement to the audience. Can’t wait to see triple A in the slam dunk competition.
8. Talk ‘n Text – Mark Andaya. Letran. An overrated pick! A project that is. This is PBA, not the NBA. Haven’t seen a successful project yet. Another Frederick Canlas/Erwin Sotto/Mark Kong in the making.
9. Purefoods – Boyet Bautista. Letran. Third Knight to be drafted. One thing is for sure: someone has to go… goodbye, Artadi! As quick as Artadi but wayyyyy better shooting.
10. Welcoat – Abby Santos. UP. A new team just entered the league. And they need players, especially big men. It’s nice to see this guy developed his perimeter game, a recent requirement for a big man. Had an impressive showing on the rookie camp. Wished Bautista landed here, so he could play more minutes.
Notable name left in the waiting room after the first round: Ronjay Enrile. I wonder why he got unnoticed. A former NCAA MVP and a star Knight before Bautista and Aban took over. Didn’t make waves in the PBL, maybe that’s why.
Players directly raised by Welcoat from their PBL roster: Jun-jun Cabatu, Jay-R Reyes, and Jay Sagad. Most notable of them is Cabatu, son of former PBA player Sonny Cabatu, who vastly improved in the PBL.
Nangyari na ba sa inyong natinik? (Natural! Hindi ka tao pag hindi pa!)
It's down to four, Spain, Argentina, Greece, USA. But before that, it was a very interesting elimination round. Although I haven't watched any games, it's nice to read that the lightweights are closing the gap with the heavyweights. Angola gave Germany a run for their money, bowing out after 3 overtime periods. China beat Slovenia in a buzzer-beater. France losing to Lebanon. And other close-margin games.
