The 2013 PBA first round re-draft

As the 2014 PLDT myDSL Philippine Cup draws to a close, it’s the perfect time to look back on the recent PBA Draft. The yearly selection of new players always brings in drama to set up the upcoming season. There are picks that are universally accepted while there are others which receive lukewarm reactions at best.

As a way of judging the merits of the rookies after one conference, let’s do a re-draft of the 2013 proceedings for the first round.

Off the bat, let me clear out that this is not to belittle the contributions of the other rookies who may fall out of the first round. Let’s just accept that some teams give gave their rookies more opportunities to shine compared to others. I’m sure James Forrester will be a tremendous player in the future but he found it difficult to find playing time with the stacked Ginebra squad. Players such as Alaska’s Ryan Buenafe and Chris Exciminiano could have contributed to other teams but their head coach Luigi Trillo decided it was best to bring in these rookies slowly.

1.    Greg Slaughter (Ginebra) – This is not even debatable. When a rookie ends his first tour in the PBA as a Best Player of the Conference contender it reinforces his team’s decision of choosing him over any other player in the draft. In the PBA today, it’s important for teams to have a match-up for Petron’s June Mar Fajardo. The big man from Cebu has changed the way lineups are built in the PBA and there is no other player that could match up with him better than the other big man from Cebu in Slaughter.

The PBA was robbed of a gigantic showdown in the Philippince Cup but the current Best Player of the Philippine Cup and the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year would battle soon.

Slaughter normed 15 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks per game for the Kings and although they came up short of making it into the Finals, Ginebra a factor for many years to come thanks partly to Slaughter.

2.    Ian Sangalang (San Mig Super Coffee) – There were actually talks judging whether Ginebra should select Sangalang over Slaughter due mainly because of their performance in the PBA D-League (Sangalang won the league Most Valuable Player award while being in the same team as Slaughter). However, Slaughter showed vast improvement from his version that played for Ateneo and NLEX. At the start of the Philippine Cup, Raymond Almazan was actually playing better than Sangalang but the San Sebastian product’s exploits in the semis and finals make him deserving of this lofty perch.

He’s currently averaging eight points and five rebounds in his continuing maiden conference but more than the stats, the fact that he has played a crucial role in San Mig Super Coffee’s title chase only denotes the fact that he will be an important cog of this team for many years to come.

3.    Raymond Almazan  (Rain or Shine) – As we’ve said earlier, the PBA moving towards being a big man’s league. Although Rain or Shine already has Extra Rice Inc. on their squad, it made perfect sense for them to draft Almazan as he is a tremendous help defender. Almazan has also shown some skill on offense although he needs to bulk up more to have a body more suited for the pro league.

Although he’s just averaging five points and five rebounds, Almazan has shown flashes of brilliance under head coach Yeng Guiao’s system

4.    Terrence Romeo (Ginebra) – I held my breath during the draft as Ginebra’s pick was announced. I though it was perfect. Swaggy T to the Kings. MC47’s heir apparent. But for the second straight year, Ginebra went left field. They passed up on Chris Tiu for Chris Ellis, now they passed up of Romeo for James Forrester. GlobalPort swept up Romeo with their fifth pick overall.

Romeo scored a career high 34 points in his second professional game and followed it up with a 27-point performance in a duel against Ginebra’s Mark Caguiao in the following game. Romeo is the most talented rookie in the bunch but his performance was somewhat affected by a team that was still struggling to find its identity.

Romeo normed 15 points, three rebounds, and three assists with GlobalPort. Tey bowed out in the quarterfinals but it should be interesting how things will change with Pido Jarencio calling the shots in the 2014 Commissioner’s Cup.

5.    Justin Melton (GlobalPort) – Quickmelt missed the first few games of his rookie year nursing a broken hand when he got his groove going, it was impossible to look away from the high-leaping point guard. Together with Mark Barroca, Melton has turned into a tenacious backcourt defender. Averaging four points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals per game, Melton’s real value lies in his defense which normally does not show up on the stat sheet. He also gives PJ Simon and James Yap valuable time on the bench before the vets close games out.

He’s the highest riser in the re-draft as many teams slept on this guard allowing him to fall to the Mixers arms as the 13th overall selection.

6.    RR Garcia (GlobalPort) – The former UAAP MVP is another victim of a shady rotation. It was tough to find good playing time with Sol Mercado and Romeo playing heavy minutes. Still Garcia normed eight points, two rebounds, and two assists in the conference.

Garcia also retains his original placing. However, it could still be a bit hard for him to get his groove going in the upcoming Commissioner’s Cup. GlobalPort traded away Mercado but they got another ball-dominant point guard in Alex Cabagnot.

7.    Alex Nuyles (GlobalPort) – An average of five points, two rebounds, and an assist per game is not eye-popping for a rookie. However, with Rain or Shine, Nuyles proved that he could score in the PBA. His career high was 16 points thanks to Guiao allowing his rookies to get a lot of burn against weaker opposition.

Nuyles was selected ninth overall but his performance bumped him up two spots.

8.    Justin Chua (Alaska) – The five-time UAAP champion had a tumultuous start to his PBA career. After being drafted by head coach Tim Cone as the tenth pick overall, Chua was already looking forward to training under the American mentor who has a knack for developing left-handed bigs. However, he was traded away to GlobalPort. Chua averaged five points, four rebounds, an assist, and a block per game with Batang Pier.

9.    Carlo Lastimosa (Rain or Shine) – Another forgotten player in the 2013 PBA Draft was the collegiate scoring machine from the College of St. Benilde.

Lastimosa was the last pick of the second round but for certain games with the Barako bull, the guard looked like he was a first-rounder. He normed six points, two rebounds, and an assist but like Nuyles, he has also shown he has the ability to score in the PBA.

10.    Eric Camson (San Mig Super Coffee) – Too slow for a three, too small for a four. That was the general reaction towards the Adamson graduate heading into the PBA Draft. It was tough to see what kind of player Camson would turn out to be in the pros and that’s why he was only selected 16th overall by the Air21 Express.

However, Camson as turned in a pretty impressive five-point, five-rebound average for the Express while scoring mostly on putbacks and broken plays. He could very well be in the mold of Rey Evangelista or Freddie Abuda.

Those who fell out: James Forrester, Isaac Holstain, and Ryan Buenafe.