And since we have limited information on all 84 applicants, we’re going to offer a scouting report on the “favorites” or pretty much the ones we’ve seen and followed through the boob tube. Here we break down their Strengths and Weakness while also offering a Ceiling and Basement or the CURRENT, ACTIVE PBA Players that each rookie reminds us of (Ceiling being the potential/ high point and Basement being the low point).
Greg Slaughter, C, 6’11”
Strengths: soft touch, great hands, can shoot free throws and 15-17 feet jumpshot, can finish around the rim finesse or force, knows where to receive the basketball, can set sturdy screens
Weakness ( / needs work): footwork, is essentially slow and lanky as expected of seven footers, lacks explosion, lacks basic back-to-the-basket post-up game, slow on the pick and roll (more of a pick and pop type)
Ceiling: Slightly taller Asi Taulava with range, if he works on his post game can turn into 7”0 Sonny Thoss
Basement: 7”0 Rob Reyes
Raymond Almazan 6”7.75
Strengths: pterodactyl-like wingspan, aggressive/ over-eager shot blocker, tenacious rebounder, agile, can make set shots 15 feet and in (wag lang fastbreak dunk), great lateral defensive footwork
Weakness: if you thought San Mig Coffee’s Rafi Reavis was lean... will get bullied out of rebounding position in the pros, foul prone, no go-to-move, no one-on-one offensive game, needs to add more muscle or figure out ways to be effective with his current frame
Ceiling: A taller, shot blocking, exclusive at center-playing, Marc Pingris
Basement: Rafi Reavis
Ian Sanggalang 6”5.625
Strengths: soft touch, great hands, great range for a big man, can bring the ball from end to end, plays like a veteran (read: magulang), knows how to use his height, elbows out, solid footwork and fundamentals, back-to-the-basket/ face up
Weakness: defend against guys his size or bigger, lean frame, high dribble, “floats” mid-game
Ceiling: Poorman’s no muscle tone Ranidel de Ocampo
Basement: Smaller Yancy de Ocampo
Terrence Romeo 5”9.5
Strengths: complete one-on-one game, can score from all angles on a variety of shots save for maybe a fade-away (bet money if you tell him this, he’ll probably take one in game just to show everyone up), has shown that (if he wants to) can make correct passes and reads, fearless/ unapologetic, street ball smart, alpha
Weakness: can force situations at times, has a hard time buying into team concept, defense is shaky, short for the acceptable PBA shooting guard, hair product
Ceiling: shorter, shoot-your-face-off Gary David
Basement: shorter, cold-shooting Ronjay Buenafe
Nico Salva 6”2.375
Strengths: inside operator, works best near and around the basket, hustler-type, his game has progressed each collegiate year which shows nothing but +s work ethics' wise
Weakness: a college-level hybrid power forward in a PBA shooting guard’s body, lack of consistent range, can’t beat his defender off the dribble and apparently, minding his own business on Twitter. Bro.
Ceiling: Santa Lucia-era Bitoy Omolon
Basement: TNT Rich Alvarez
Jeric Teng 6”0.625
Strengths: can shoot from deep, can drive to the basket (finesse), has a legit post-up game, can play point guard in limited stretches, has arguably the best mid-range game of all PBA draftees
Weakness: take all of the above mentioned which is common among PBA shooting guards and make it a step (or two) slower, rugged defender but only against guys his size and speed, coming off two injuries this year
Ceiling: Larry Fonacier on the Extra Rice, Inc. Diet
Basement: Petron Joseph Yeo
We will conclude with Part 2 in the next few days (definitely before the long weekend). Stay tuned.
Your thoughts on our scouting report?
Agree :)
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