Friday, August 12, 2005
Mente, Duat cross fingers today
The Philippine Basketball Association’s opening salvo for the 2005-06 season calendar of activities comes off the wraps today with the holding of a dispersal draft involving players displaced in the aftermath of the leave of absence taken by the Shell Turbo Chargers.
League commissioner Noli Eala will preside over the proceedings to be held at the PBA Board room beginning at 10 a.m.
A total of 17 players are in the dispersal pool, including the ones Shell got in exchange for those it traded before it filed a leave of absence from the league.
Draftees
Among those to be dispersed are Celino Cruz, Rensy Bajar, Marlon Legaspi, Carlo Sharma, Adonis Sta. Maria, Rob Duat, Joey Mente, Arnold Gamboa, Jeck Chia, Edwin Bacani, Tonyboy Espinosa, Estong Ballesteros, Banjo Calpito, Eugene Tejada and veterans Chris Jackson, Jerry Codiñera and Jun Marzan.
Of the lot, only Jackson, Sta. Maria and Marzan have live contracts.
Duat and Tejada were acquired after the Turbo Chargers dealt Rookie of the Year Rich Alvarez and national team member Tony de la Cruz to Alaska, Chia and Bacani of Coca-Cola in exchange for Billy Mamaril, Codiñera of FedEx for Ronald Tubid, Purefoods’ Espinosa for Roger Yap and the Ginebra duo of Ballesteros and Calpito for Kalani Ferreria and Ervin Sotto.
Role players
“Most of them are role players, but I would say it’s still a very decent pool,” said Eala.
The order of selection has been patterned after the natural order of the coming PBA Rookie Draft set this Sunday at the Sta. Lucia East Mall. FedEx owns the No.1 pick followed by Sta. Lucia, Coca-Cola, Purefoods, Red Bull, Alaska, Ginebra, San Miguel and Talk ‘N Text.
Teams also have the prerogative to trade or transfer their rights in the Rookie Draft if they want to avail of more players in the dispersal pool. (PBA Media Bureau)
(August 12, 2005 issue)
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