THE Draft is the most exciting day before a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) season. And even friends tell me such because there’s some sort of excitement in the wheeling and dealing that comes before, during and after the draft.

It is the time when teams stock up on talent and fill up their deficiencies through the draft, which almost always showcases the best that amateur basketball has to offer. Even before draft day, basketball aficionados make guesses on who will be taken in by which team based on the perceived weaknesses.

The overriding statement by team owners nowadays is to take in the best talent available. Nothing is really certain during the draft as teams on top of the picking order may opt to trade away their picks if there’s a more interesting transaction being baited for that privilege.

The question that remains is ”do we always need to exercise the privilege just because it’s there, or we opt to trade it away?” The draft, as anybody knows, does not always embody what a team wants. The prevailing need of teams right now is the big man of the old school, the type who can play with his back against the basket and be counted upon in rebounding. Such kind is a rarity nowadays even with locals and Filipino-Americans trooping to the draft each year.

Another usual need is a shooter and a pure one at that, regardless of whether he is an off guard or a small forward. Pure shooters are hard to find these days. But there’s a shade of this kind with guys like Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter.

There’s of course the playmaker. The PBA is lucky that guys like Mark Barroca and JV Casio were made available for the draft.  Given all their strengths, it is quite understandable for Powerade to go for Casio, who is the best combo guard in the draft, while Barroca is also a heady guard who can create situations a la Johnny Abarrientos.

By the way the draft went, there are of course the given and no-brainer choices and those who will have to be proven correct as the season wears, particularly those picked in the second to fourth rounds.

Coaches pick based on potential. A hit in the University Athletic Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association may be dud when it comes to the PBA, which is actually an accumulation of UAAP, NCAA and US NCAA stars of years before. Being a Most Valuable Player in the collegiate leagues is never a guarantee of success in the pro league, but hard work is a surefire formula.

As I’ve said before, it is important for an aspiring player to look at what the market needs and adjust his playing strengths to those ideals. A five-foot-nine player like Casio will not survive for long if he insisted on playing the 2-guard spot where he will fall prey into mismatches. He developed himself to a point guard with a given knack for scoring and that is what the PBA market needs.

A player like John Wilson is a certified scorer in the NCAA but he would have gotten stale if he insisted on this in a Ginebra team that has a scorer like Marc Caguioa. Wilson transformed into a defensive-minded small forward and that is why he is very valuable for the Gin Kings now.

My advice to players who are good enough to make the pro league is to be open to re-inventing themselves. With a million Filipinos into competitive basketball, he should go the extra mile by learning the fundamentals by heart (as no PBA team would want a half-baked player for long) and adjust and always be on a lookout for ways to improve on his game.