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WHETHER
the Welcoat Dragons will paint the town red or remain in
the red in the 33rd season of the Philippine Basketball
Association (PBA) will depend on their top pick.
Yesterday, the Dragons chose Filipino-American Joe
Calvin de Vance Jr. as this year’s No. 1 overall
pick in the 2007 PBA Annual Rookie Draft held at the
jampacked Market! Market! in
Taguig
City.
 The
25-year-old de Vance is a product of University of Texas
in El Paso and played forward-cenaer for Toyota Otis in
the Philippine Basketball League.
“My main
goal is to win a championship. This is not about Joe de
Vance. Now it’s about Welcoat. I’m now a Paintmaster,”
said de Vance.
De Vance
barely made it to the list of applicants as he asked the
league to extend the deadline set for Fil-Foreign
players who are required to submit pertinent documents
pertaining to their Filipino lineage.
The
six-foot-seven de Vance is a one-time Philippine
Basketball Association MVP who also played for Harbour
Centre. He tried to apply in last year’s draft but was
denied the opportunity as he lacked the proper
documents.
De
Vance, a criminal-justice student who also dream of
becoming a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, was
welcomed by head coach Leo Austria and franchise player
Jay-R Reyes.
“Si
Joe kasi ’yung complete package. He’s the
popular and logical choice sa mga meetings
namin. He can play on both ends of the court,” said
Austria. “We also need someone who will complement
Jay-R. We intend to build this team around Joe and
Jay-R”
Austria
admitted that a lot of teams wanted to get their top
pick but in the end management decided to use the
opportunity in molding their franchise with young
players.
“Hindi
na namin ibibigay itong si Joe. We want him to team
up with Jay-R lalo na ang target namin is
to at least makapasok sa playoffs,” added
Austria. “Who knows baka with Jay-Ar and Joe
pwede kami sa championship.”
Yesterday’s event which formally opened the 33rd season
of the league saw the biggest draft trade as Alaska
parted ways with dependable forward Nic Belasco.
The Aces
shipped Belasco to Welcoat in exchange of slotman JunJun
Cabatu.
Picked
second overall by San Miguel Beer was six-foot-nine
Davaoeño Samigue Eman, a product of
University of
Mindanao
who played center also in the PBL.
Eman
said playing in the PBA is “a dream come true” for him
while his inclusion in the San Miguel ballclub was the
fervent wish of his father.
Eman’s
father is a retired employee of San Miguel where he
worked for 10 years.
The
third pick overall owned by Sta. Lucia was guard Ryan
Reyes from Los Angeles, California.
The
six-foot-two Reyes, who celebrated his 24th birthday on
August 10, displayed his wares for Cebuana Lhullier in
the National Basketball Conference and Henkel Sista in
the PBL.
Air21
Express exercised its fourth and fifth picks in tapping
Ateneo teammates JC Intal and Doug Kramer.
Alaska
Aces probably got the surprise of their lives as big man
Karl Kenneth Bono was still available during their turn.
At sixth
pick overall,
Alaska
chose Bono, a six-foot-five do-it-all player who
blossomed into a potential pro star when he won the UAAP
MVP trophy last season while playing for Adamson
University.
Alaska
chose six-foot-six Cebuano center JR Quiñahan, 23, from
the
University
of Visayas as the seventh overall pick.
The
Express used their third first-round pick by choosing
San Beda stalwart Yousif Aljamal at eight overall.
The
first round ended with San Miguel gaining FEU guard
Jonas Villanueva at ninth, while Ginebra picked Ateneo’s
Mark Anthony Escalona at 10th. |
