Teams bare Gilas aces by alphabet

MANILA, Philippines - The PBA board of governors last night decided the 12 ball clubs pick a player each from the Gilas roster on a pre-determined order or by consensus and scrapped the usual drafting process.

But after making their choices at the end of a five-hour discussion, the teams also agreed to defer the announcement until the 2016 PBA Annual Rookie Draft at Robinsons Place Manila on Sunday.

It will be made via alphabetical order, meaning Alaska Milk will be the first to name its pick, followed by Barangay Ginebra, Blackwater, GlobalPort, Mahindra, Meralco, NLEX, Phoenix Petroleum, Star, San Miguel Beer, TNT KaTropa and Rain or Shine.

This will precede the selection of the other players in the regular PBA draft.

They said the move will provide an element of surprise on draft day although it is widely believed that Mac Belo, the premier player in the draft pool, will land at Blackwater while gunner Kevin Ferrer will be tapped by Barangay Ginebra and Matthew Wright will go to Phoenix.

Other players who have been distributed to the teams are the other Gilas members in Arnold Van Opstal, Ed Daquioag, Jio Jalalon, Mike Tolomia, Russell Escoto, Roger Pogoy, Carl Bryan Cruz, Von Pessumal and Alfonso Gotladera.

Gilas coach Chot Reyes considers all these players as bright prospects in the pro league and with the national team.

“I’ll be the first to say I had had apprehension, but when I saw them in Iran, I was amazed. They fought and competed in Iran with very limited practice time, no naturalized player, no experience,” said Reyes, recalling the showing of most of them in the recent FIBA Asia Challenge in Tehran.

“It made me very positive. Several guys on this pool will have a real good shot at making the final 12 (of Gilas) even with the PBA guys there,” Reyes also said.

Under the agreement between the PBA and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, these players will be drafted into the PBA but will be released to Gilas anytime called to serve the national team.

Meanwhile, the team of Jio Jalalon, Raphael Banal, Jammer Jamito, Joseph Eriobu and Jovit dela Cruz reigned supreme in the one-day mini-tournament capping the PBA Rookie Draft Combine at the Gatorade Hoops Center in Mandaluyong.

They beat the squad of Reden Celda, Gene Belleza, Levi Hernandez, Cedrick Ablaza, Jeff Javillonar and JC Asuncion, 55-51, in the finale, and Jalalon won the MVP honors.

Tolomia and Banal were among the other standouts. Banal, son of champion player and champion coach Joel Banal, played high school ball at Ateneo, formed a deadly one-two punch with Kiefer Ravena in the Phl youth team then played college ball in the US.