History and Evolution of the PBA Draft

Little has been reported about the history of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Draft. There are only a few resources available on the Internet that discuss about the PBA Draft. I had to sift through my library of old magazines and bank on my memory to get a comprehensive year-by-year listing of what transpired in the Annual PBA event since it made the headlines in 1985. Luckily, I’ve found the information that I need, and my months of research have started to pay dividends. I now have a compilation of the year-by-year results of the annual amateur grab bag.

What is a draft? In basketball lingo, a draft is an offseason activity wherein the worst teams in a league are given top priority to acquire the best amateur talents in the land, the purpose of which is to maintain parity and balance in the league. Although there are different draft systems being used by pro and semi-pro leagues, the order of the draft is usually determined by the reverse order of the teams’ win-loss records or rankings during the previous season, with only some minor tweaks with regards to the number of players to be taken from the pool, and how much weight is put in to give the “worst” teams in the league a proportionate chance of tabbing the early picks in the draft. This is usually done through a lottery system to avoid teams from “tanking” the season (in basketball terms, it means teams deliberately losing its games to gain favorable draft position).

Indeed, the draft system in the PBA has evolved from a simple activity to a very cerebral affair. Prior to 1997, the PBA draft was restricted only in the four corners of the PBA office, with only team representatives and the PBA Commissioner involved with the 2-hour long affair. It had no fanfare and was bereft of excitement and drama normally felt when attending or witnessing a draft activity.

1975-84: Farm Team SystemPrior to 1985, there were no existing policies (or none that I know of) in the admission of new players in the pro league. PBA teams maintained amateur teams (called “farm teams”) in the now defunct MICAA wherein they keep promising amateur players with the intent to hone them until they become “ripe” for the pro league. As recounted by JP Mercado, the Toyota Tamaraws were successful early on because they had a great depth of talent in their amateur team MAN Diesel / Frigidaire, such as Emerito Legaspi, Leopoldo Herrera, Pablo Javier and Eduardo Merced. Their sister team in the PBA Filmanbank was able to get Angelito Ladores. Utex Wranglers pried from Solid Mills two star players from FEU, Renato Lobo and Anthony Dasalla in 1977. Jimmy Taguines of Yco Painters was taken by mother team Tanduay. Jimmy Manansala, the year's top rookie, was taken from the Yco Painters by Tanduay. In 1979, San Miguel got their top players from their San Miguel farm team in Salvador Ramas, Marlowe Jacutin, Leopoldo Paguntalan, and Melchor Ravanes. Crispa secured Angelito Esguerra of Letran from their farm team Walk Tall in 1980. Crispa also secured 1984 ROY Willie Pearson from their Crispa farm team. However, there were others who were not taken from their sister teams and were immediately acquired by teams they negotiated with: Virgilio Cortez (Toyota from Manilabank), Marte Saldaña (San Miguel from APCOR), and the legendary Ricky Brown (Great Taste from NCC). In 1981, Crispa got 4 top amateurs from multi-titled MICAA champions APCOR (Arturo Cristobal, Ramon Cruz, Federico Israel, Elpidio Villamin). Not to be outdone, Toyota, the year after, acquired their own batch of 4 top amateurs (Timothy Coloso, Edgardo Cordero, Antero Saldaña and Ricardo Relosa). Since Crispa and Toyota were the top teams back then, it was easy for them to convince amateur players to join them for immediate stardom and recognition. This system led to more imbalance and titled the favor to the league’s top two teams – Crispa and Toyota.

1985: Birth of an Organized Draft
Realizing the need to ensure balanced competition among the competing teams in the league, PBA deputy commissioner Tommy Manotoc thought of controlling the entry of rookies in the league through an organized draft system. The idea was to have the weaker teams in the league gain first crack at the top amateur players of the land to ensure they have a fighting chance against the league powerhouses. In 1985, the first PBA Draft was conducted by the PBA with Shell Azodrin, who took over from the Crispa franchise, getting the privilege of selecting first from the draft pool. Shell made the most out of the draft by getting six of the 17 players in the pool, enlisting the likes of RP team campaigners Sonny Cabatu (who went number one overall), Romy Ang, Totoy Marquez, 6’6” beanpole Menardo Jubinal, Manila Beer pickup Aldo Perez and eventual ROY Leo Austria. Although Shell did not fare very well in the 1985 season (finished last in a seven-team field that includes guest team Northern Consolidated composed of the finest amateur players in the land and three naturalized Filipinos), there was a reason to get excited, and a season to look forward with the exceptional showing of its rookies, namely Leo Austria and Sonny Cabatu.

1988: Direct Elevation
In 1988, in an unprecedented move by the PBA, they allowed league newcomer Purefoods Hotdogs to elevate four prized players from the amateur ranks to reinforce the team that was apart from getting the first crack in the 1988 PBA draft. The direct recruits were Jojo Lastimosa, Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codinera and Glenn Capacio who went on to become among the top players in the PBA. Sans the four top amateur players, it became a boring draft thereafter. Jack Tanuan and Ronnie Magsanoc went 1 and 2 and no one really remembers who went afterwards.

In 1989, the PBA opened its doors to amateur players less than 21 years old, including members of the RP youth team, creating a frenzy among PBA teams shopping for the best talents in the land. 20-year old Venancio “Benjie” Paras, who was coming off an awesome performance for Philips Sardines in the PABL, was the number one selection in the draft class that was considered one of the best, if not the best ever.

In 1990, the PBA raised the age ceiling for draft aspirants to 23 years old. Vergel Meneses, who was supposed to be selected first overall by Purefoods, was found to have tampered his birth certificate and was declared ineligible to turn pro. Purefoods traded the pick to Alaska who went on to select the 6’7” Alex Araneta first overall.

In 1993, the PBA laxed its rules and allowed amateur players to declare for the pros provided they have earned at least 48 units in college. Marlou Aquino created a lot of fuss by turning in only 18 accredited units to the dismay of Ginebra hopefuls who were hoping to select the 6’9” human beanpole from Pangasinan with the first overall pick. Marlou Aquino turned pro two years later, curiously, for the same squad.

1997 marked the first time the PBA opened the draft to the public. Andrew John Seigle, a gangling 6’9” talent then from New Orleans University was drafted number one overall by Mobiline but not after getting the ire of Marlou Aquino after declaring that he was, according to Tommy Manotoc, “ten times much better” than the Pangasinan giant.

In 1999, with the emergence of the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), the PBA allowed each teams to directly hire one Filipino-American and one homegrown talent to spice up the coming season. It led to the recruitment of the likes of Paul Asi Taulava by Talk N Text, Danny Seigle by San Miguel Beer, Jon Ordonio by Pop Cola, Tony de la Cruz by Shell, Mick Pennisi by Red Bull, Rob Parker by Sta. Lucia Realty. Alvarado Segova of Purefoods and James Walkvist of Alaska followed suit. Tanduay Rhum gained entry into the league and was allowed to directly elevate six players from its amateur team. They enlisted Jomer Rubi, Christopher Cantonjos, Mark Clemence Telan, and direct hire Eric Menk and initiated a trade deal with Alaska to land the draft’s biggest secret, Texas’ Sonny Alvarado.

In 2001, Red Bull elevated six players from its amateur team – Lordy Tugade, Kerby Raymundo, Junthy Valenzuela, Jimwell Torion. They utilized the draft’s top pick on Letran’s Willie Miller who would go on to capture the MVP Award a year later.

2004: Lottery System
Some adjustments were made in the rookie draft to conform to the prevailing times. Under the system adopted prior to the 2004 PBA Draft, a lottery would determine the order of selection for the league’s two worst teams from the past season. The rest of the teams will pick in reverse order of their rankings from the past season, with greater weight on the teams’ ranking in an All-Filipino Conference. The team who wins the lottery will pick first in the first round and second in the second round, the loser picks second in the first round and first in the second round. The lottery system was hatched up in the light of some teams deliberately losing its games just so they could get the number one spot in the annual grab bag. You must have remembered Ginebra tanking the season in 1995 to guarantee itself of picking Marlou Aquino in the 1996 draft, and with the way Sta. Lucia Realty dismantled its all-star lineup to get first crack at Dennis Espino in the 1995 draft. Well, it was imminent that the PBA had to do something to prevent teams from playing lacklusterly and the lottery system, adapted after the NBA, was seemingly, the way to go. In 2004, Shell won the first ever draft lottery, and exercised it on 2-time UAAP MVP Rich Alvarez. Purefoods settled for James Yap.

2005-Present: Just Two Rounds
In the early years of the draft, teams would select players until they ran out of prospects. The draft would go as long as the seventh round, like what happened in the 2002 draft which saw a total of 41 players drafted by 10 teams. In the 2001 draft, a total of 48 players got their names called at the end of the sixth round. Less than half of that number were, however, signed to a contract by the teams that drafted them. Blue chip talents are usually gone after two rounds, with only Ginebra’s Bal David (21st overall, 3rd round pick of the 1995 draft), Peter June Simon (43rd pick, 5th round pick of the 2001 draft), among others as mere exceptions rather than the rule. The problem with this setup is that players are tied to the teams that drafted them. Most notable was Cyrus Baguio who was drafted in the 2nd round by Red Bull in the 2003 draft. Since Red Bull’s lineup was already filled up, Baguio wasn’t signed to a contract and had to return back to the amateur league. There were several teams who were interested in Baguio but since Red Bull wouldn’t budge and give him his release papers, he couldn’t play in the pros. Luckily, for Baguio, Red Bull gave him a slot in its lineup and the rest is, as they say, history. Patterning after the two-round system of the NBA, the PBA adopted the same format for the 2005 season. The idea is to give undrafted players a chance to try out for a team of their choice. All players who were not picked after two rounds will become automatic free agents, along with those who were drafted but did not reach any agreement with the teams that drafted them.