THE PBA Annual Draft is rich in stories about draft-night sleepers, with Peter June Simon's and Ato Agustin's sagas easily among the most exciting of them all.
Agustin slipped to second round in 1989 while Simon went down to as low as 43rd overall in 2001, but the two carved out great careers, defying the odds and outperforming their draft positions.
The 2021 PBA Draft class may also present sleepers breaking through.
Just consider the names of those missing the first round.
Six-foot-3 guard Brian Enriquez, from William Woods University, narrowly missed the first round, getting the call of Barangay Ginebra at 13th overall or No. 1 in the second round.
Sponsored content: Then came back-to-back selections (Rey Mark Acuna and Joshua Torralba) of Blackwater, followed by Alaska's Taylor Brown, Rain or Shine's Frankie Johnson, Nicholas Demusis and Aljun Melecio of Phoenix, Dave Murrell of NLEX, Alec June Stockton of Alaska, Anton Asistio and Andrei Caracut of Rain or Shine and NorthPort's Mark Olayon.
There could be gems right there in Round 3.
Terrafirma started the round by picking Dhon Reverente, followed by NorthPort and Blackwater choosing second-generation players in Loren Brill and Andre Paras.
Also making the third round were Antonio Bonsubre (NLEX), Kenneth Mocon (ROS), Ronnie de Leon (Magnolia), RK Ilagan (Alaska), Allen Enriquez (San Miguel), John Yasa (Meralco), Reymar Caduyac (Phoenix) and Michael Simmonds (TNT).
Ginebra was the first team to pass at No. 36.
Sponsored content: But the draft went on, with 25 players chosen from Rounds 4 to 8. (SB)
