PBA Draft Focus: After D-League stint, Fil-Ams guards target PBA spot
(From L-R) RJ Dilay, Abel Galliguez, Simon Enciso, Alli Austria. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Though not as highly touted as projected top pick Moala Tuatuaa, these Fil-foreign players are still determined to turn heads as they embark on a journey to the PBA.
Abel Galliguez, who suited up for John Brown University in the United States before playing for Cagayan-Gerry’s in the PBA D-League, is one of those guards making the jump to the pro-league.
The five-foot-nine Galliguez, though, admits that it’s actually harder to stand out when you’re from the U.S.
“To us guards coming from States, it’s harder. We really have to stand out because we didn’t play in the UAAP or NCAA, so it makes it harder to stand out especially with this country having great guards. We try to do our best to stand out than the rest of the other guards,” Galliguez said.
Simon Enciso, a stocky five-foot-11 guard, is also looking to get a second look from the PBA scouts after his solid stint for Cebuana Lhuillier in the PBA D-League.
But more than individual stats that could bolster his stock in the 2015 PBA Rookie Draft set on August 23, Enciso’s first priority, he said, is always the team.
“At the end of the day, I just want to go out there and play hard. It’s not about how many points you score, but what you can do for the team. I feel that’s a bigger concern than the stats,” he said. “Everybody can score 40, but if you’re losing, what does that 40 mean? I’d rather have a balanced scoring team and get the W than have 40 and get a loss.”
Aside from Enciso and Galliguez, PBA D-League standouts like Alli Austria and RJ Dilay, who also both played for the Rising Suns, are also trying to ascend to the pros.
All living in the Mandaluyong area, they consider themselves as close as brothers, though the connection actually comes along way with Enciso and Austria both hailing from San Francisco.
“We’re real close. Alli is my best friend. We’ve been playing since third grade. It’s been a brotherhood ever since. We all hang out after games, have some dinner together. We have a close friendship,” Simon said.
“It goes back to the States,” said the five-foot-11 Austria. “We played together, played against each other, and we work out together.”
Austria went to the Philippines first before Enciso followed a year after to try their luck in the local basketball scene.
“I met RJ and Abel when we first moved out here,” recounted Austria, as the three of them joined the inaugural D-League Draft in 2013. “We were the only Fil-Ams in the tryouts so we had the same goal and that’s to make it to the PBA. We push each other.”
All of them are eyeing the same thing: a stint in Asian’s oldest basketball league where legends of Philippine basketball have been made.
Jimmy Alapag and Harvey Carey, JJ Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa, Sol Mercado and Gabe Norwood are just some of their fellow Fil-Am players who they look up to, and all four are hoping to follow those guys’ footsteps.
“I think it will be a big achievement. That’s why we came here, left home, and pursued our dream of playing basketball,” said Dilay, 25, who hailed from Morton Grove, Illinois. “It will be a great accomplishment to do that and I know we’ll all be grateful for the opportunity.”
Enciso hopes that they can all walk up that stage and hear their names called out come draft day on August.
“It would be great,” he said. “I feel like we’re the next Fil-Ams in line to do the same. I wish the best for every Fil-Am and I hope we see each other in the league and have the same friendship that we have.”
But Austria knows that all success stories start with a dream, and that can only happen if all of them take that first step.
“Hopefully, we all get drafted,” he said.
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