Realtors looking real this time

Gone: Cesar Catli, Mark Isip
Gain: Ryan Reyes, Joseph Yeo
Mainstays: Dennis Espino, Marlou Aquino, Nelbert Omolon, Kelly Williams, Paolo Mendoza, Dennis Miranda, Melvin Mamaclay, Christian Coronel, Manny Ramos, Ronnie Bughao.

Boyet Fernandez, the unassuming Sta. Lucia Realty mentor, only had the benefit of a conference to have his ears wet coaching in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Now, he has a full season to whip the Realtors into a team full of potential as what many people expect them to be.

Fernandez, who took over the team’s coaching post only at the start of the last Fiesta Cup, has just gotten enough help to achieve that goal.

First, management used its no. 3 pick to select talented Fil-Am guard Ryan Reyes and then tabbed back up big man Melvin Mamaclay in the second round.

Reyes, a Cal State Fullerton product, was signed to a three-year pact worth P8.5 million in place of Sta. Lucia’s former rookie pick Alex Cabagnot, whom the Realtors dealt to the Tigers last conference in exchange for Denok Miranda.

The 23-year-old Reyes, a pass-first before shoot playmaker who saw action for Rain or Shine in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL), is expected to form a dreaded backcourt partnership with Miranda.

The Realtors then unloaded the Far Eastern U duo of Cesar Catli and Mark Isip to get the services of sophomore shooting guard Joseph Yeo (and a second round pick in 2009) from Coca-Cola in a bid to strengthen the team’s roster in the two-guard spots.

”It made our two-guard spot better. Before, we’re more of perimeter plays, outside shots. But with the addition of Joseph, we now have a slasher-type of a player,” said Fernandez, a long-time Sta. Lucia player - both in the amateur and pro - and assistant mentor before being elevated to the head coaching job six months ago to replace Alfrancis Chua.

If that’s not enough, the franchise also sent veterans Dennis Espino, Marlou Aquino, Paolo Mendoza, Nelbert Omolon, Kelly Williams, Miranda and Reyes to
Boston Massachusetts to undergo skills and conditioning training.