August 31, 2025 | 12:00am
When the clock struck 5 p.m. final Friday, the PBA closed the e book on candidates for the Sept. 7 draft and introduced that 128 had overwhelmed the deadline. The rookie hopefuls will attend the Draft Mix on Sept. 4 and 5 on the Ynares Pasig the place professional scouts are anticipated to descend for an opportunity to evaluate the prospects.
Of the 128, 22 are listed at 6-5 and over with 6-10 Geo Chiu of Ateneo the tallest. The shortest is 5-4 Joshua Rivera of Pamantasan Ng Muntinlupa. The oldest is 39-year-old Anthony Sevilla, a six-foot Karel de Grote College of Belgium guard born in Amman, Jordan. Others who’re a minimum of 30 are 5-10 Jason Brickman, 33, 5-7 Romeo Yu, 32, 5-8 Achie Inigo, 31, and 6-3 Alfred Sedillo, 30. The youngest is 21-year-old Jacey Cruz of Qatar College.
There are 22 Fil-foreigners on the checklist, together with 6-2 Geremy Robinson Jr. of UST and 6-1 Cole Micek of NAIA college College of St. Francis of Illinois. Robinson, 23, is the son of ex-PBA import Geremy Sr. who performed for the Harlem Globetrotters earlier than suiting up for Air21 in 2011. Micek, 29, was on the Macau Black Bears group that went in opposition to Gilas within the send-off showdown at PhilSports Area final month. He was scoreless in 2:58 minutes. In his ultimate 12 months at St. Francis, Micek averaged 12.8 factors and shot .438 from three in 28 outings. Except for enjoying hoops, Micek is a business mannequin and actor.
Participant agent Marvin Espiritu mentioned the most well liked bets to be named first general draft decide are Brickman, Juan Gomez de Liaño and Chiu. Will Gozum and Chris Koon may go among the many first 5. Espiritu mentioned Sean Quiteves, Christian Manaytay, Dalph Panopio and Joshua David are possible first spherical selections, too. “Some gamers would make sure second-round picks in a loaded draft however regardless that there are 128 candidates, we’ll see function gamers transfer as much as the primary spherical and that’s a great alternative,” mentioned Espiritu. “It’ll be an fascinating draft. Groups can have plenty of gamers to select from so count on intense competitors on the Draft Mix to impress scouts and coaches.”
Terrafirma owns the primary general decide, its sixth within the final eight seasons. The Dyip’s 5 earlier selections have been Christian Standhardinger, CJ Perez, Roosevelt Adams, Joshua Munzon and Stephen Holt none of whom continues to be with the group. Brickman, Gomez de Liaño or Chiu may make an instantaneous impression so any one of many three could be a lift for Terrafirma. The group traded its rights to Javi Gomez de Liaño for Jerrick Ahanmisi and misplaced Stanley Pringle and Terrence Romeo to free company. The holdovers embody Louie Sangalang, Kemark Carino, Mark Nonoy, CJ Catapusan, Brent Paraiso, Aljun Melecio and Kevin Ferrer. Newly-appointed Terrafirma head coach Ronald Tubid wants a ground chief who can rating, make performs and energize teammates. Brickman would possibly match the invoice. Will he be the Chosen One?