BLACKWATER and other ball clubs seeking an upgrade ahead of the PBA wars take their picks from the best talents in the 66-man pool of aspirants in Sunday's Season 47 Rookie Draft at Robinsons Place Manila.
The Bossing, who are bent on turning things around after a so-so campaign marred by a league-worst 29-game losing skid last season, look to take advantage of their rights to the No. 1 selection and two other picks in the first round to beef up.
Coach Ariel Vanguardia said the Bossing are eyeing to tab Fil-Am big man Brandon Ganuelas Rosser ahead of everyone else in the draft that starts at 4 p.m.
The Bossing also get to select ninth and 11th, from previous trade deals with TNT.
Vanguardia's choices were initially among Rosser, collegiate standout Justine Baltazar, and fancied Fil-Am Sedrick Barefield. Baltazar withdrew his application while G League player Barefield didn't meet the league's eligibility requirements and was among those scratched off the final roster.
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This, Vanguardia said, led by some changes on the team's plans for its first-round selections. "But our top pick remains, "he said, referring to the 6-foot-7 Rosser who suited up in the PBA 3x3 and served Gilas Pilipinas 3x3 duties in the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.
Terrafirma, which had the top selections in the past three drafts, picks second after Blackwater.
Converge, the new kid on the block, gets a shot at the No. 3 and No. 4 selections, inheriting the rights from Alaska. The FiberXers' fourth pick came from the Alaska-Phoenix trade involving Vic Manuel last year.
Rain or Shine chooses fifth and 10th (from a previous deal with Meralco), while NorthPort (sixth), NLEX (seventh), Barangay Ginebra (eighth) and Magnolia (12th) round out the first-round picks.
For Round 2, it will be Blackwater, Phoenix (from Terrafirma), Converge, Phoenix, ROS at Nos. 5 and 6, Phoenix, Ginebra, NLEX, Phoenix again, and Magnolia in that order.
The teams will take their picks until the eighth round or until all of them have already "passed" in the draft, which will mark the first face-to-face proceedings in the pandemic. The 2020 draft was done "virtually" last year.
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Rosser and fellow PBA 3x3 product Jeremiah Gray headline 12 Fil-foreign hopefuls while Justin Arana, JM Calma, Jeo Ambohot, Javi Gomez de Liano, Gian Mamuyac, Tyler Tio, Shaun Ildefonso and Encho Serrano topbill the freshman applicants from the homegrown ranks. (OL)
