Tall foreign school bets stunt growth of big men

MANILA, Philippines - To many, the lack of quality big men in the last PBA Rookie Draft could be the effect of the proliferation of foreign behemoths in the UAAP and in the NCAA.

Backcourt talents, led by Stanley Pringle and Kevin Alas, went high on the draft with the likes of Junmar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter or even those of Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Ian Sangalang and Raymond Almazan missing in the draft pool.

Though wanting in post players, Globalport, Rain or Shine, NLEX and Alaska Milk settled for quality backcourt talents without a single dominant big man in the pool.

“I agree (the influx of foreign players in the collegiate ranks) is stunting the growth of our big men,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao. “It has a big impact on the overall picture of basketball in the country.”  

“How can the collegiate ranks produce frontline talents when the list of schools bringing in foreign recruits is getting bigger and bigger,” said a collegiate coach who refused to be identified.

“Foreign big men compete with one another, displacing the homegrown,” he added.

“That’s true. That’s really the reason why big men were missing in this year’s pool,” said Alaska assistant coach Louie Alas, an NCAA champion coach with Letran.

“One good example is Prince Caperal. His numbers dipped as his playing minutes dropped on the entry of an import in their team (Arellano),” Alas added.

Of course, there are still those holding their own, and these include Adamson’s John Brondial and San Beda’s Jake Pascual, selected at No. 6 and No. 8 in Sunday’s draft.

But again, missing were the likes of Fajardo and Slaughter. 

“The Slaughters and the Fajardos come only in a generation. If you do not develop, walang dadating na ganyan,” said Guiao.

“You don’t improve if you just watch the foreign players play,” the collegiate coach said.

Traditionally, big men dominate the annual draft.

In the last 10 years, a center or a forward emerged as the top draft pick except in 2008 (Gabe Norwood), in 2011 (JV Casio) and this year (Pringle).