Cebu’s Fajardo joins PBA draft

CEBUANO bigman Junemar Fajardo is now ready to display his wares in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) after he officially joined the roster of professional hopefuls on Monday.

At 22, the towering 6-foot-9 standout guided the University of Cebu to back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011 in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) tournament.

Fajardo once rivaled Greg Slaughter of the University of the Visayas until the Fil-Am center transferred to Ateneo de Manila, where he is gunning for a second straight championship in the 75th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

Air21 owns this year’s top overall pick, although the rights have since been traded to Petron, the PBA said.

Reports said the Boosters have been vocal about their fondness for Fajardo, who played for the San Miguel Beermen in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) last season. Petron is one of the companies under the San Miguel group.

The field of 61 aspirants also includes NCAA MVP and San Sebastian stalwart Calvin Abueva, PBA D-League MVP Vic Manuel, former national player Aldrech Ramos, and foreign-bred players Chris Ellis, Cliff Hodge, Jason Deutchman, Charles Keith Jensen, and Alex Mallari.

Set to join the selection process as well on August 19 at the Robinson Midland Manila are San Sebastian’s Ronald Pascual, ex-San Beda player Dave Marcelo, National University’s Jewel Ponferrada, Emman Monfort and Bacon Austria of Ateneo, former Far Eastern University gunner JR Cawaling, the Adamson quartet of Lester Alvarez, Janus Lozada, Jerick Cañada and Jan Colina and University of the East’s Paul Zamar.

Deadline for local players wishing to join Asia’s first play-for-pay league is on August 3. After this, rookie aspirants will undergo the regular biometrics procedure on August 15, before the release of the final list of candidates on August 16.

Last year’s top pick was JV Casio of Powerade, a former national team member who also won titles with the De La Salle University in the UAAP. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)