Weirdest draft ever
It’s a wicked set-up, I tell you
I am happy that five of the finest products of the Philippine collegiate basketball pipeline made new homes as they take the leap to the pro ranks while also enjoying the opportunity to suit up for the national team.
To that end, I extend sincere congratulations to Isaac Go, Rey Suerte, Allyn Bulanadi, and my former students, the Nieto twins in Matt and Mike Nieto.
Unless you missed the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Annual Rookie Draft festivities, you should already know that Columbian drafted Go together with Roosevelt Adams, Christian Balagasay and Bonbon Batiller.
Blackwater, for its part, picked Suerte, Maurice Shaw, Richard Escoto and Chris Bitoon.
NLEX chose Matt along with Mike Ayonayon, Will McAloney, AC Soberano and Gelo Vito.
San Sebastian product Bulanadi, meanwhile, enters the fold of Alaska, which also drafted Far Eastern University’s Barkley Eboña, Letran College’s Rey Publico, and Lyceum of the Philippines University’s Jaycee Marcelino.
Mike was chosen last in the “special Gilas draft,” which is the main subject of this column, by Rain or Shine, and he joins Ateneo de Manila University teammates Adrian Wong and Vince Tolentino in addition to Clint Doliguez, Prince Rivero and Wendell Comboy.
So now after giving credit to those five amazing young talents, let me just say that this year’s PBA Draft was the strangest I’ve ever seen.
I thought that the “special Gilas draft” from 2016 was already weird, but this one trumped that hands down.
I mean, at least the one from three years ago had twelve players drafted by all twelve PBA teams to give the impression of parity, but man, this year’s “special” draft had just five picks for five teams, all of which were still able to pick in their respective positions when the “regular” draft begun.
I guarantee that you won’t see anything identical to this anywhere else in the pro basketball world.
And although nobody has really written much about it, possibly because of all the well-deserved excitement and energy borne from our current 2019 SEA Games success, this draft format is clearly muddled with uncertainty.
Who picked the five guys for Gilas when the squad, technically doesn’t even have a head coach yet? On what basis were these five chosen?
And what, specifically, are the expectations of these five players moving forward? In which tournaments will they play? Matt and Isaac were already previously named by former Gilas head coach Chot Reyes in his “23 for 23” pool in 2018, but do the other names — Suerte, Bulanadi, and Mike — replace other names from the list, or is it now a “Magic 26?”
Or is this the beginning of a completely new pool for 2023 with these five being the initial members?
A number of observers, fans, and even basketball insiders messaged me over the weekend about how strange the current set-up is, and frankly speaking, it is very weird.
Who picked the five guys for Gilas when the squad, technically doesn’t even have a head coach yet.
There are so many things that are shrouded in mystery, if not doubt.
What does the future hold for these five players? How soon will they begin training for the 2023 World Cup? Who will join them? Who the heck is their coach going to be?
It’s a wicked set-up, I tell you.
Which makes me think — heck, maybe Thirdy Ravena’s decision to not yet join the draft just proved to be the smartest decision of anyone eligible to join the PBA this year.
By the way, where will we see Ravena now that his University Athletic Association of the Philippines playing days were over?
I heard some things, but let’s wait for the situation to become much clearer soon.