Eligibility of Gilas players questioned

Challenges seem to never stop for our national bet, Smart Gilas.

Over the past months, we hear of several not-so-good news from the team. There's the departure of several key players, coach Toroman's future with the team, priorities of the players to name a few. The team, has responded to these challenges and has finally assembled a formidable team to compete in FIBA. But before someone could say "all systems go!", this came out (from the smart gilas fb page):

PETRON: The Winner of the Draft

After Barber Speak blog conducted a poll about what team is their "winner" of the Draft, the results showed that Petron Blaze Boosters was the clear winner of the draft. Definitely, the movement done by the recent Governor's Cup Champ was really an A. Powerade was close 2nd place in the poll followed by the Aces.

Poll Summary:

1. Petron = 42%
2. Powerade = 29%
3. Alaska = 15%
4. Rain or Shine = 7%
5. Others = 7%

Let us discuss the draft summary:

Petron Blaze Boosters:

• The return of the Cebuano Hot shot provide them the missing piece to their team, a scoring, shooting guard.
• The acquisition of Gilas Player Chris Lutz gave them a hardworking small forward. This gave Arwind Santos more freedom to play at the 4th position without sacrificing talent at the three position. 
• Without Jaywash and Rabeh for the All-Filipino Cup, and with the trade involving Mick Pennisi, Carlo Sharma is a welcome addition.Especially that Sharma was having a good PBA 36th season, there is no doubt that this former green archer will have playing time for the next season.
• Filemon Fernandez and Gerard Lapuz will definitely add depth to the team especially with the departure of Duncil, Hubalde and Tugade.

Powerade Tigers:

• Drafting Casio and Lassiter gave the Tigers  more scoring option. Definitely, the lone scorer of the Tiigers last season Gary David is really happy with the addition to their team.
• Without Rob Reyes and the trade to Jr Quinahan gave Powerade problems in their middle. Only Will Antonio( originally  guard/forward) and Doug Kramer are manning the Middle.
• A problem for the Tigers: Yes they can score, but with their small line up, can they rebound?
• Maybe the big man issue was the turning point why the Tigers was not the clear winner of the draft. Their team improve, but not a top 5 team.

" Philip Zuñiga is a graduate of Philippine Normal University. He is a certified sports fan since 1996. "

2 Gilas players frustrated for Ababou's 10th pick finish

Asi Taulava:

Chris Lutz:

It's understandable about their frustrations, we know that ababou is a good player, he is a great scorer.

But we can't blame Meralco and Ginebra for not getting him, those teams I mentioned needs big man and getting Dylan will just clogged the guard positions of those two teams.

The funny side is the Barako bull, even though they got both Maliksi(8th pick) and Ababou(10th pick), for formality sake, MAYBE, choosing Ababou first before Maliksi is a logical choice.

Back to the topic, it sounds funny how Asi and Chris reacts on Dylan's 10th pick, they should remember, the reference of being a good player is not on the draft day, but on how you play the game. Personally, I really think that Dylan is in good position right now, he will play in the team that needs scorers. And what I said in my previous article, Willie Miller as your teacher will make you a more type of a scorer. Goodluck Dylan!

" Philip Zuñiga is a graduate of Philippine Normal University. He is a certified sports fan since 1996. "