Blackwater selects ‘Big Mac’
The Blackwater Elite made good on their promise to secure the services of perhaps the best player from the Gilas Pilipinas pool after obtaining Mac Belo in Sunday’s PBA Rookie Draft at the Robinson’s Place in Ermita, Manila.
Belo, who rose from obscurity to become a highly-touted UAAP star for Far Eastern University, was taken during the special draft where PBA teams were allowed to pick one player each from the Gilas pool as part of an earlier agreement with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
The versatile 6-foot-4 forward was one of 37 rookies who had their names called during the two-hour proceeding.
“Thankful siyempre (to Blackwater) Basta bigay ko lang yung best ko for my new team,” said Belo, who led FEU to last season’s UAAP title and Phoenix to two PBA D-League championships earlier this year.
There were few surprises in the special draft, namely the reported trade between sister teams Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Star that didn’t materialize.
Ginebra went ahead with the selection of ex-University of Santo Tomas forward Kevin Ferrer, while Star got former Arellano star Jio Jalalon. Both players were rumored to switch teams after Thursday’s seven-hour meeting by the PBA board regarding the special draft.
Phoenix took Fil-Canadian shooter Matthew Wright, reuniting him with coach Ariel Vanguardia – his mentor during his ASEAN Basketball League stint with the Westports Malaysia Dragons.
A reunion will also occur at TNT after its new coach Nash Racela got Roger Pogoy, his former player at FEU. NLEX claimed Fonso Gotladera, Meralco secured the services of Ed Daquioag, Rain or Shine picked Mike Tolomia and Alaska drafted Carl Bryan Cruz.
Initial reports had Pogoy going to Mer- alco, while Daquioag was supposed to join NLEX. But the two teams owned by Manny V. Pangilinan opted to take the different route which surprised some of the fans.
Overshadowed in the selection of the Gilas players was the drafting of Ael Banal as the Blackwater’s top overall pick in the regular draft.
Banal played high school basketball at Ateneo, but decided to hone his skills in the United States where he played five years for Victory University in Memphis, Tennessee and Hope International University in Fullerton, California.
The son of former PBA player and coach Joel Banal was coming off a stint with Racal in the PBA D-League. The younger Banal said he is looking forward to playing for a young Elite squad that has Belo and young pros Art dela Cruz And JP Erram.
“I feel blessed,” said Banal who developed as a shooting guard to a point guard which caught the eye of Blackwater as he is projected to be a combo guard in the mold of Star’s Paul Lee.
“We’re a young team, and I’m excited to be part of the team,” he added.
Other first round selections were Phoenix’s Gelo Alolino, Ginebra’s Jam Jamito, Mahindra’s Joseph Eriobu, Star’s Chris Javier, SMB’s Rashwan McCarthy, Meralco’s Jonathan Grey, NLEX’s Reden Celda, Ginebra’s Jericho de Guzman and Phoenix’s Geoffrey Javillonar.
ROS and Alaska opted to pass in the first round of the regular draft.