Gonzales ipinamigay sa San Miguel

Bilang paghahanda sa PBA All-Filipino Confe-rence na magsisimula sa Marso 5, isang three-way trade ang napagkasun-duan sa pagitan ng Air21, San Miguel at Purefoods.

Ipinasa ng Express ang Ateneo stalwart na si Wesley Gonzales sa San Miguel Beer  kapalit ni Eugene Tejada.

Ngunit hindi sa Beer-men ang final stop ni Teja-da dahil kinuha naman ito ng Purefoods kasama si Homer Se kapalit ng second-round pick ng 2006 Amateur Draft.

Ito ang ikalawang trade na isinagawa ng Air21 matapos nilang ipasa ang forward na si John Ferriols sa Talk N Text kapalit ni Mark Telan para palakasin ang kani-lang ilalim.         

"If you will notice, we unloaded three of our team’s least-used players last conference, while keeping the core of the Express untouched. In return, we got whom we think is a real, top-caliber player in Mark Telan, whom we believe is an All-Star material,"  pahayag ni Alvarez.         

Ipinaliwanag ng Air21 team manager na hindi na nakakakuha ng sapat na playing time sina Gon-zales, Se at Ferriols, tali-was sa ‘ team philosophy’ ng Air21 na gamitin ang lahat ng 12-players.       

"It’s unfair to keep them here because they are good players, who actually will be better off strutting their stuff in some other team, where their services will be better utilized," ani Alvarez.         

Matapos matikman ang third place finish nitong nakaraang San Mig Coffee-Fiesta Confe-rence, lalong naging determinado ang Express na gumawa ng paraan para matikman ang kanilang kauna-unahang titulo. 

"We’re not resting on our third-place achieve-ment. As a matter of fact, it made us even hungrier to really go for the big prize. I believe we have a young team that is maturing fast to challenge the league’s power-houses," wika ni Alvarez.

Dalawang  first-round picks na ang nakuha ng Air21 nitong nakaraang Amateur Draft na ginamit nila kay Anthony Wa-shington at Mark Cardona na ipinasa nila sa Talk N Text kapalit ni Yancy de Ocampo.

Sa 2007 draft, may dalawang first round picks na naman ang Express na nakuha nila sa Pure-foods matapos nilang ipamigay si Mark Pingris.