MANILA – San Miguel Beermen’s retooling ahead of the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup slated this April has started after coming to terms with the TerraFirma Dyip for the services of Jaymar Perez.
Based on the trade deal pending before the PBA Commissioner’s Office, Perez will pledge his services to the Beermen in exhange for reserve players Angelo Alolino, Matthew Ganuelas-Rosser and Russell Escoto and SMB’s no.8 pick for the 2021 PBA Rookie Draft.
Once approved, the Columbian Autocar Corp. will have three picks in the first round of the draft set on March 14 as it also owns the top overall picks in both the Gilas and Regular draft.
Dyip board of governor Bobby Rosales justified the obviously one-sided trade favoring the Beermen saying that the prospect of getting two first-round picks in the upcoming draft forced them to let go of Perez.
“He’s really a good player. Ang hirap bitawan ni CJ,” Rosales said in an interview with Spin.ph. “Pero we’ve all been saying na hindi kumpleto yung piyesa ng team, so we thought also that having two picks in the first round (of 2021 PBA Rookie Draft).”
“Having the No. 1 and No. 8 would give us a better chance of getting the better talent in this coming draft. And hopefully would be able to hit the pieces also,” added Rosales, who is eyeing Fil-Am Joshua Munzon as their top-overall pick.
“Very obvious naman kung ano yung mga kulang namin. We have the shooters, we have the backcourt. Alam naman natin na kulang kami sa malaki. So that really is the basis of the decision. We wanted two picks in the first round, eh,” he further said.
Despite Rosales’ alibis, moving Perez to the Beermen was still shocking move after he averaged league-high 24.36 points to go along with 6.82 rebounds, 4.27 assists, and 2.0 steals per game for the Dyip last season.
The efforts of Perez, Dyip’s top overall pick during the 2018 PBA Rookie Draft, led him to a runner-up finish in the 2020 Best Player of the Conference race and an inclusion in the Mythical team despite the Dyip not reaching the playoffs round.
Alolino, on the other hand, averaged 2.2 points in five games played for the Beermen last year, while Escoto, who is a former Dyip player, averaged 1.82 points and 2.91 boards in 11 games. Ganuelas-Rosser, meanwhile, did not play for SMB in the PBA bubble./PN
