File-PBA Rookie Combine. Photo by Tristan Tamayo / INQUIRER.net
Without a hitch, the draft adjustment of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is coming back this summer.
“We put it closer to May 12 or May 13,” Mauro Bengua Jr., the league’s operations technical officer, told Inquirer on Friday, just before the rubber match between top pick Magnolia and perennial Governors Cup contender Meralco in Smart Araneta. Coliseum in Quebec City, Cuba.
It may be recalled that the league scratched the event last year in compliance with restrictions imposed by national governments during the epidemic.
As a solution, the PBA has instead allowed teams to invite prospects to join the team workout.
The league has yet to identify a venue for the pending sponsorship deals, but the Gatorade Hoops Center in the town of Mandaluung is emerging as the event’s staging site.
Without giving any estimates, PBA Commissioner Willie Marshall said he expects a crowd of applicants this year.
“It simply came to our notice then [foreigners with Filipino roots] This time for their passports. Also, we have talked to the collegiate league, ”said the league chief.
“They were requesting if we could push the rookie draft after April so that we could take the graduates this season,” he continued. “So we’re preparing for quite a few voters.”
UAAP, NCAA
The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have resumed their seasons after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 epidemic, with both varsity leagues expected to be healthy enough by the end of April. .
If UAAP and NCAA succeed in doing so, it will allow graduate seniors, whose careers have been suspended during varsity hoops, to apply for professionals immediately.
With this, relaxed requirements for Filipinos who were born and / or raised abroad will ensure a healthy flow of talent for the league, with the number of applicants expected to increase. This will increase the value of the currently owned draft picking team.
A total of 97 players applied for last year’s Rookie Draft. Of those numbers, 86 were eventually cleared by Filipino-Americans Joshua Munzon, Jamie Malonjo and Mickey Williams as first, second and third picks, respectively.
The application deadline is May 2, the annual election will be May 15.
“We’re also looking at bringing the rookie draft back to the mall,” said Marshall, who is keen to impose relaxed restrictions in the capital.
“Hopefully, everything will work out,” he added.
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