TO THE Catholic faithful and to those whose only belief in waking up in the wee hours of the morning is to discover some partners in sharing the assorted delicacies paired with tsokolate and with spirituality as second option, today starts the nine-day Misa de Gallo.
To the followers of the Philippine Basketball Association, this afternoon at Robinsons Place in Manila is the 2018 PBA Rookie Draft.
To those lucky enough to be picked, the bars of nearby Mabini and Adriatico would be happy join you in your celebration.
Several reports say that this guard-heavy draft class is the leanest in years but there could be several diamonds in the rough just waiting to be polished to perfection.
But among the abundance of guards are notable wingmen in ASEAN Basketball League campaigners Caelan Tiongson and Lawrence Domingo who, together with Bobby Ray Parks, play this ABL season for the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas. The trio probably won’t be present today as Alab will be playing against CLS Knights of Indonesia. NCAA rivals Robert Bolick of San Beda and CJ Perez of Lyceum along with Parks are considered as the top three picks.
The deadline for submission of Draft applications was supposed to be on Dec. 3 but the league extended it for a week, allowing UP players Diego Dario and Paul Desiderio to catch up, as they become the last players to get included in the official list of 47 applicants. The total number surpassed the 44 hopefuls who applied last year.
Three rookies have the same surnames. Edrain Lao is from the University of the Visayas and Kent Lao is from the University of Santo Tomas. Kyles Lao opted to forgo his final year with UP and played with the MPBL and the D-League. He could have played together with Dario and Desiderio in the UAAP championship series.
The Draft order, as always, will be based on the performance of the teams from the previous season, and they will take turns selecting qualified amateur applicants, including players of mixed parentage. Columbian Dyip, of late monopolizing the bottom of the league, will again have the top pick and hopefully will not do things, again, that would compromise simple logic. Remember the Christian Standhardinger trade in exchange for shock troopers?
The Dyip, on paper, has a good rotation on the guard and small forward spots, and it would be wise for them to pick either Parks or Perez. Both are versatile wings. In the case of Perez, he is a very good defender who would complement Ronald Tubid. Either of them will boost the Dyip’s underpowered engine and, just maybe, could help them advance from the bottom.
At least half of the 48 will be selected today and, surely, their lives will change with the rookie salary cap of P150,000 per month. The figure excludes monetary riders on their respective contracts. Good luck, aspirants!/PN
