BARAKO, GLOBALPORT GO BULLISH IN PBA DRAFT DAY TRADES
Adding color to this year’s Rookie Draft, six teams made imprints Sunday not only by selecting players, but also by wheeling and dealing, building up early for their Philippine Cup rosters.
Barako Bull Energy and GlobalPort Batang Pier were the busiest of the bunch, as they traded players for assets and picks throughout the Draft selections.
The Bert Lina-owned franchise, which originally held the fourth to sixth picks, traded away their assets for veterans to spruce up their team.
First, they traded away the fourth pick to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel for big men Willy Wilson and Rico Maierhofer, as the crowd favorites selected Arellano Chief James Forrester.
Next, the Energy sent the No. 5 overall pick to the Petron Blaze Boosters for the seldom-used Magi Sison and Mark Isip. The Blaze Boosters then traded the pick to the Batang Pier for sophomore center Yousef Taha. GlobalPort then used that selection to tab 2013 UAAP Most Valuable Player Terrence Romeo of FEU.
The Mikee Romero franchise would again take part in another transaction, as GlobalPort took Barako Bull’s sixth pick in exchange for defensive guard Denok Miranda, who just came to the Batang Pier from Petron in an earlier trade which also included guard Chris Ross. GlobalPort then selected RR Garcia, pairing him again with his collegiate backcourt partner Romeo.
In the second round, the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters got their hold of the trading block, as they selected Ateneo big man JP Erram as the 15th pick, which originally was owned by the Alaska Aces, for TNT’s 2015 second round pick.
In the final transaction of the night, Ginebra traded its 24th pick together with the team’s 2016 and 2017 second round picks to GlobalPort for the Batang Pier’s first round pick next year. GlobalPort then selected La Salle guard LA Revilla to join their already-heavy backcourt. (RLeongson)
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