Rookie Abu Tratter has set a big goal for himself.
Selected seventh overall by the NLEX Road Warriors in the 2018 rookie draft, Tratter is aiming to fill the shoes of JP Erram, whom Blackwater dealt to NLEX in a three-way trade that eventually landed Tratter and No. 4 pick Paul Desiderio to the Elite.
"I have set some goals that I hope to achieve. On top of that is to hopefully be as effective (as JP Erram)," offered the 6-foot-5 center out of De La Salle.
Tratter made his debut Wednesday against NorthPort, and he did walk the talk.
He finished with a near-double-double of 18 points and nine rebounds in the 35 minutes that he saw action but his effort went for naught as the Elite lost to the Batang Pier, 117-91.
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"I think for me as an individual, I think I played up to the amount of work I put in the gym," Tratter said. "But I'm not really worried about that. I'm worried about whether or not I'm executing well on offense and on defense."
"I wanted to win," he added. "There's a lot more work ahead of me."
With his baptism of fire over, Tratter is now looking forward to his matchup against five-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo.
"I'm excited. I'm waiting for that June Mar game," he said. "That's the bar you wanna set. He's at his peak, he's also one of the most talented big man in history."
"I wanna be able to see how well I go up against a talent like that,"Tratter said. (JB)
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