Winners and Losers of the Draft

Who are the winners and losers during draft day? Check it out below:




WINNERS

Air21 Express
The Express had a bountiful harvest in the draft both in quantity and quality, drafting JC Intal, Doug Kramer, Yousif Aljamal, Marvin Cruz and RJ Masbang. Yousif Aljamal has already been traded to Talk N Text for future considerations and Masbang looks like a long shot to be signed up by the team, despite that, the Express are looking at a very exciting ahead of us. Intal and Kramer will team up to form a new core of Blue Eagles in the PBA. Intal is a very exciting player whose athleticism will be at par with mainstays Arwind Santos and KG Canaleta. Cruz is an energetic guard who may be the better fit to run the Express' plays in transition. Kramer is the perfect utility guy who will help mitigate the mistakes of teammates on defense.

Welcoat Dragons
The Dragons are rebuilding and what better way to start with it than drafting Fil-am Joe Devance with the draft's first pick overall. Devance is a franchise player whose multi-varied skills will bring a lot of headaches to the opposition. He can play all frontcourt spots, post up and shoot from the outside. Cynics claim he is soft and does not take it strong to the hole but Devance is one guy you would want on your team when you need a go-to presence, and Devance simply does it all. With their other pick, the Dragons tabbed the biggest sleeper of the draft - Ryan Arana. Arana was a highly coveted player who mysteriously dropped all the way down to the second round where the Dragons didn't waste time to pick him. He is a player who can play on both ends of the court, and his infectious enthusiasm would suit just well with Welcoat's brand of play.

Alaska Aces
The Aces welcome the new Bruise Brothers in town. JR Quinahan and Ken Bono could be the heir apparents to former Alaska tag team champion Ricky Relosa and Yoyoy Villamin. The Aces couldn't believe their luck when the two beefy centers fell to their lap at number 6 and 7. Quinahan is the best center prospect to come out of the Visayas for the past five years or so. He is nicknamed Baby Shaq because like the Miami Heat center, he dominates the lane. Ken Bono ripped the UAAP and the PBL in his final seasons there, and the PBA could be next. People claimed Bono is slow, fat and has no defense. Well, I can tell you this, he is the best shooting center that ever lived, a smart player and knows how to use his "beef" to good use.

LOSERS

Basketball aficionados
The fans were treated to a boring, more than hour-long speeches by a veteran sportscaster and the OIC who claimed this activity was for the basketball fans (Please!). The TV coverage was also not good. Where were the experts when you needed them? I'm talking about Chino Trinidad who certainly knows the draft aspirants more than the commentators knew, Quinito Henson who can light a fire in the building with his hot, hot opinions (backed up by stats and news that goes far beyond the resources that we read on the Internet), and Norman Black who has a great analytic mind and knows the UAAP players more than we know. The graphics was also bad. This isn't the 80s you know, but how come when I see the way the PBA presented everything last Sunday, I am reminded of the Toyota-Crispa-Utex days.

PBA
The draft is the first formal affair of the league before it opens in October and from the looks of it, it is far from stellar. Are we expecting the same for the new season? A lot of fanatics were drooling to get news on the pre-draft camps, but little information has been given in the papers. Where are the complete physical measurements of each aspirant? They don't even have a resume or a profile or a scouting report of each player to hype them up in the draft. Little has been reported also on the rookie camp. Where are the boxscores? If the draft is a big event, how come it is not being hyped as it should be? The PBA should look at how the NBA draft is being done.

Undrafted draft aspirants
The PBA decided to cut the draft down to two rounds which means the percentage of not getting drafted on the aspirants' part is lessened. Teams passing up in the second round should be ashamed of themselves. Even if they do not intend the draft the players for their team, it is always an amateur player's dream to come up on stage (ok on the podium) and receive the traditional team caps and jersey. Have the teams' stocks ran out?

San Miguel Beer
It was twice in a row that the Beermen have been beaten to the draw in the draft. They had a good chance last year to draft Kelly Williams and were hoping that Sta. Lucia would pass him up in the draft. They were deadwrong. PBA is business and no matter what policies the Realtors adhered to in the past, it all boils down to competitiveness and talent. Could you imagine what the Realtors could have done last season if they selected another player? This season, they also lost out to Welcoat in the race for Joe Devance. The Beermen selected Samigue Eman not because he is the second most talented player in the draft, but because they need a center who can fill the hole left by Dorian Pena. Pena will probably sit out the whole of the Philippine Cup and may not be even ready at the start of the Fiesta Cup. Eman is nowhere near the finished product he is touted to be. He has a great upside and at 6-8 he is a joy to watch on the court, because he is agile, athletic and a shotblocking threat. It remains to be seen if he can evolve into a top-flight center in the mold of an Asi Taulava. He certainly has the tools, but is he ready to become one? Should the Beermen regret the day they passed up on the opportunity of drafting Fil-am guard Ryan Reyes? We'll know the answer in 3-5 years.

Red Bull Barakos
The Barakos a loser? Didn't they just drafted Jojo Duncil with the 15th pick? That's a quality player that deep. But if you will look closely, the team traded their draft picks to Alaska for Rich Alvarez. The draft picks turned out to be Aaron Aban and JR Quinahan. The 15th pick was acquired by Red Bull along with Don Camaso for what? Enrico Villanueva. Just a bad, bad decision by the Barakos.

STALEMATE

Purefoods TJ Giants
Jean Marc Pingris + Rommel Adducul = Doug Kramer + Jojo Duncil. This was a home run for the Giants considering the role played by 2005 Most Improved Player Marc Pingris in their title campaign in the 2005-06 season. Adducul also gave the Giants its lone legitimate center since Andy Seigle. It still remains to be seen how the two rookies would pan out for their respective teams but the prognosis is that they will evolve into solid PBA players. The Giants had a chance to join the Winner's circle in this draft but blew their chance when they elected to use their first round pick last year instead of this year (the Pingris trade was a team option). Last year's pick Boyet Bautista played sparingly for the Giants and there's a good chance he will be out of the team's roster spot this season.