The Romance of Terrence Romeo

Rise and tune out the semantics
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

In last Wednesday evening's main game, a GlobalPort Batang Pier rookie decided to make a name for himself. That being said; he didn't make a name by appeasing his many, amateur career haters-- no. He made a name for himself by simply playing the way he has the last few years.

Thy name is Terrence Bill Romeo.

High-octane, fast-paced, fading away, crossover, spin move three, one-on-one, one-on-two... one-on-five basketball. What he gave up on inches, he made up for with grit and a will to win. How many point guards can you name that would nonchalantly drive into the lane and absorb Street Fighter Zangief piledriver style contact from both Junemar Fajardo AND Arwind Santos? He was blocked several times and had his shot altered by Petron Blaze's bloodhounds, but this didn't deter him from who and what he was.

2013 PBA Draft Results

The Big Men Cometh
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

We will work on the post analysis in a bit, for now we'll borrow some copy from the InterAKTV website because we're simply too lazy to retype the damn thing.

In our honest opinion, all hell broke loose after the "given" Top 3 Picks.

First Round

1. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel – Greg Slaughter
2. San Mig Coffee Mixers – Ian Sangalang
3. Rain or Shine Elasto Painters – Raymond Almazan
4. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (from Barako Bull) – James Forrester
5. GlobalPort Batang Pier (from Barako Bull via Petron) – Terrence Romeo
6. GlobalPort Batang Pier (from Barako Bull) – RR Garcia
7. GlobalPort Batang Pier – Isaac Holstein
8. Alaska Aces – Ryan Buenafe
9. Rain or Shine Elasto Painters – Alex Nuyles
10. San Mig Coffee Mixers – Justin Chua

KKS Scouting Report: 2013 PBA Draft Favorites (Part 2)

Continuing our Scouting Report on the 2013 PBA Draft “Favorites” with the exception of Carlo Lastimosa, SG, 5”10 and James Forrester, SG, 6”0 because, quite frankly, we didn’t know where Destiny Cable put AksyonTV not until maybe three weeks ago. 

And that’s only because we reset our television and put it on auto programming.

In case this is your first time to drop by our page, please feel free to check out Part 1 of our Scouting Report. We're going with the 2013 PBA Draft Favorites-- their Strengths and Weaknesses plus the PBA player that they remind us of (Ceiling would be who or what they could become and Basement would be, well, the basement).

Ryan Roose Garcia 5”9.5

Strengths: gifted with range, made giant leap from shooting guard to point guard, able to play off the ball and defer to superstar teammate/s, solid ball handling skills, heady point guard, savvy, can create own shot 

Weakness: man to man defense, late on switches, average frame might be a problem against stronger guards and fighting through screens, any questions pertaining to his relationship with a former teammate and a famous TV personality

Ceiling: More offensively potent Mark Barroca, minus the stingy defense  

Basement: Shorter RJ Jazul

KKS 2013 PBA Mock Draft Version 3 FINAL

Jeric Teng: What going HAM in the UAAP Finals
on national TV can do to your PBA Draft stock
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

The first time we did this, there were a lot of top-Peso names on the list that we could easily throw out there in any order and no one would've raised an eyebrow or posted a seven-tweet rant calling for our heads (in case you haven't, feel free to follow us on Twitter through @kilikilishot).

When the second version came out, we had an idea more or less of who are going to apply and where they'd land-- 1st or 2nd round. Thanks to an insider whose identity we've promised to keep under wraps (till maybe he himself makes the sports headlines), high profile names such as those of the Gilas Cadets, Chris Banchero and later on Bobby Ray Parks, Jr. have been omitted from our list.

Now, we present to you our FINAL 2013 PBA Mock Draft-- based on what we've heard, read, researched, know and also, on what the other PBA teams (who haven't sent any feelers yet) need going into the next PBA season. 

#KKS2013PBADraft

With the 2013 PBA Draft just around the corner (November 3), we asked some of our friends over at @kilikilishot on Twitter who they think will be drafted in the first round (10 draftees in total).

For everyone's convenience, the draft order is as follows:

1. Ginebra 2. San Mig Coffee 3. Rain or Shine 4. Barako Bull 5. Barako Bull 6. Barako Bull 7. Global Port 8. Alaska 9. Rain or Shine 10. San Mig Coffee

Here are our friends thoughts on the Top 10:

The kids are all right

Alas & co vs South East Asia
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

With the mainstream collegiate basketball season almost at its end, the focus now shifts on the coming 27th South East Asian Games (December 11 to 22, to be held in Myanmar) where the Philippines is favored to dominate the sport anew.

Already announced to call the shots is Meralco Bolts assistant coach Jong Uichico (who, at this point in his career, is really over-qualified for the job but hey) to be aided by Far Eastern University’s brain thrust Nash Racela and Josh Reyes. Naturalized center Marcus Douthit will also suit up which pretty much guaran-damn-tees us to be one of the medal favorites.

KKS 2013 PBA Mock Draft Version 1

Please bear with us if our list is a little rough, we're still trying to make sense of all the PBA transactions (which pick was traded to whom, for what, who owns this, who owns that) and are just working around it the best we can. That being said, since we're almost at the end of another magnificent PBA season, it's about damn time to start looking ahead (specially for fans of teams that have no realistic chance of suddenly breaking into the conference finals) and see what's in store.

We'll make about one or two more versions of this 2013 PBA Mock Draft depending on the guys who apply or are deemed eligible. For now, here's our bet for the 1st round Top 10 picks:

1. San Mig Coffee Mixers – Greg Slaughter, 7”0, C
Let’s put it this way, if Tim Cone could make slow-footed, 7”2 E.J. Feihl look like an offensive threat in the late 90s (we’ve never seen him jump high enough to dunk the basketball consistently during his short-lived PBA career), then Slaughter is going to be a force in the pros. The Atenean giant can catch the ball and finish with either hand (over-looked skill these days), always has his hands straight up to contest shots and more importantly, is a willing banger. He’ll also have the luxury of playing alongside a bevy of shooters/ scorers which leaves the paint exclusively to him.

2. Rain or Shine Elastopainters – Ian Sangalang, 6”6, PF/C
While there are those batting for Raymond Almazan, we feel that Yeng Guiao will go with Sangalang—and not just because they’re from the same Northern region. Based on what we've seen so far, Sangalang already trumps his peers and even predecessors with a refined offensive repertoire. He can play inside, outside, has no qualms dribbling end to end and can even stroke it from deep when called upon. Put this guy beside a Beau Belga or JayR Quinahan and you are looking at a Marlou Aquino-Dennis Espino in Santa Lucia kind of pairing that can push RoS to the top right away.

Young, wild and free

Kalma lang mga brad,
i-guest ang Gilas sa GGV!

"We're just having fun, we don't care who sees... living young, wild and free." - Wiz Khalifa

So it's a Sunday morning and we're brushing up on the latest on the SMART Gilas men's basketball program-- specifically it's ever-changing roster. We've grown weary of all the drama that Team San Miguel keeps putting out there, so let's just not talk about the "what if's" and just go with who we have at the moment.

Enter the SMART Gilas "cadet pool"-- collegiate stars who would probably enter the league not until two or three years from now. Seriously, this team looks more like the NCAA All Star counterpart of the then UAAP-heavy selection of the original Gilas program bannered by Chris Tiu and JVee Casio. Below is a look at the possible roster for the coming Dubai and Hong Kong pocket tournaments: