SLR gets rights on Magtulis, Gins’ pick

Sta. Lucia Realty acquired the signing rights on forward Ronald Magtulis plus a future draft pick from Barangay Ginebra by allowing itself to be the third party in the blockbuster Jun Limpot-Andy Seigle trade deal which was consummated yesterday morning.

Another player swap involving Purefoods’ Billy Mamaril and Shell’s Eddie Laure cropped up but Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio denied the report.

Team officials Atty. Ariel Magno of Sta. Lucia, Rene Pardo of Purefoods and Ira Maniquis of Ginebra closed the deal that sent Limpot to Purefoods and Seigle to Ginebra.

Acting as conduit, Sta. Lucia gained dividends as it acquired Magtulis from Purefoods and Ginebra’s first round draft pick next year.

The four San Miguel Corp. teams–San Miguel Beer, Ginebra, Purefoods and Coca-Cola–are not allowed to make direct trade negotiations. The Limpot-Seigle trade became possible with Sta. Lucia entering into separate deals with Ginebra and Purefoods.

Sta. Lucia earlier traded a draft pick this year to Ginebra for Limpot. Then the giant land-developing corp. dealt Limpot to Purefoods for Seigle and Magtulis. To end the transactions, Sta. Lucia traded Seigle to Ginebra for draft picks.

The three parties later agreed it was a "win-win-win" deal for all of them.

"With Jun Limpot, we’ve got a go-to-guy at the post now. And with a player doubled at the post, our backcourt guys would find it easier to operate," said Gregorio.

"An offensive threat in the middle was something we’d missed (in our previous line-up). Yung malalaki kasi namin hindi naman talaga offensive players," Gregorio added.

Ginebra, meanwhile, was overloaded with go-to-guys at the post, thus, it batted for a player who could be willing to play a supplemental role–offensively that is.

"Ang daming offensive players ng Ginebra. Nandiyan si Limpot, Eric Menk, Mark Caguioa at Bal David na lahat gustong umopensa. Nag-aagawan tuloy sa bola," said a team official.

The Realtors acquired only the signing rights on Magtulis as the 6-foot-3 forward from FEU became free agent last Dec. 31. But Sta. Lucia may find no problem in fitting Magtulis with the team’s pay cap as the former MBA stalwart used to get less than P100,000 a month from Purefoods. — Nelson Beltran