Alapag back in harness, plays for Meralco

MANILA, Philippines - One-time PBA MVP awardee Jimmy Alapag is back in town from Tokyo, looking forward to fight another battle as he’s coming back from retirement to play for the Meralco Bolts.

Alapag, among the key players in the Phl contingent in the bidding war for FIBA World Cup hosting rights, is joining the Bolts in the coming PBA season as his playing rights were dealt by Talk n Text to sister team Meralco in a trade involving a third party in Blackwater.

Talk n Text regained the rights on forward Larry Rodriguez while Blackwater absorbed guard Mike Cortez and center James Sena from Meralco in the transaction approved by new PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa.

On Monday, Narvasa gave his nod on Joseph Yeo’s transfer to Globalport from Barako Bull. The Energy Cola, in turn, gained a future draft pick by the Batang Pier.

Meanwhile, 64 players beat the Friday deadline in the list-up for the coming PBA Rookie Draft with Bobby Ray Parks not in the list.

Talk n Text, which owns the top drafting rights, is expected to pick either Moala Tautuaa or Troy Rosario in the draft exercise set Aug. 23.

Other potential top picks are majority of the Gilas cadet team in the last SEA Games, including Norbert Torres, Almond Vosotros, Scottie Thompson, Baser Amer and Glenn Khobuntin.

Before the trade, Alapag had been a Talk n Text star all his PBA career, serving as team manager of the team after announcing his retirement in midstream of the 2014-15 PBA season.

Signing the trade papers were Meralco team manager Paolo Trillo, Blackwater alternate governor Wilbert Loa and Talk n Text assistant team manager Magnum Membrere.

With Alapag now with Meralco, Virgil Villavicencio is back as TNT team manager.

Alapag, the 2003 Rookie of the Year, has career averages of 12.4 points, 5.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds. In 12 games played last season, he made 6.5 points, 2.2 assists and 2.17 rebounds per outing after a wondrous stint as Gilas skipper in the 2014 World Cup.

Rodriguez, a longtime Rain or Shine mainstay, had a brief layover at Talk n Text before being dealt to Blackwater – a part of the transaction allowing the Texters to gain the first pick in the coming PBA Rookie Draft.

With his return to TNT, Rodriguez joins the Texters as they compete in an invitational tournament in Seoul, South Korea from Sept. 2-6.

Meanwhile, Blackwater gained an additional experienced players on their acquisition of Cortez and Sena.

 Cortez is a 12-year PBA veteran like Alapag, sporting career norms of 10.02 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists.

Sena is an incoming fifth year pro, beefing up Blackwater’s frontline with a 6-foot-6 ceiling.