Solomon Mercado and Robert Reyes yesterday joined fellow Fil-foreign player Jared Dillinger in the coming PBA Rookie Draft with Welcoat hoping to strengthen its roster by picking either Mercado or Dillinger.
“If we don’t make changes, we would remain the league’s whipping boys. It’s already embarrassing,” said Welcoat co-team owners Raymund Yu and Terry Que whose Dragons ended up the worst performer for the second straight PBA season.
“Our choice is either Dillinger or Mercado since we really need to shore up our backcourt rotation. Right now, we’re inclined more on Dillinger since he’s at least three inches taller than Mercado. Of course, he also has a longer wingspan,” said Yu on their draft preference.
Deadline for draft application is 6 tonight.
With Gabe Norwood likely to miss the draft due to citizenship woes, Welcoat has now trained its sights on either Dillinger or Mercado and the 6-foot-5 former UE Warrior Mark Borboran.
Meanwhile, Air21’s Gary David and Ginebra’s Mark Caguioa were named the PBA Press Corps’ Accel-Smart Co-Players of the Week in the period July 2-6. David erupted for 30 points in the Express’ closing game in the elimination round while Caguioa had solid showings in their last two games.
In another development, Talk n Text activated Jonathan de Guzman in lieu of Felix Belano while Red Bull put Reed Juntilla in the active roster, taking over from Mark Andaya.
Gillinger is a 6-foot-5 guard out of University of Hawaii now playing for the Pampanga Buddies in the Liga Pilipinas.
Mercado is also a guard standing 6-foot-1 while Reyes is a 6-foot-5 forward. Both had a stint with the Harbour Centre team in the PBL.
Reyes, nephew of former pro player Eric of Sunkist and Alaska, has long been in the wish list of a number of ball clubs. He shied away from the local pro league the last two years since his family is based in the United States.
Norwood is reportedly now hoping to land a job in the Australian league since he couldn’t join the PBA draft minus the necessary documents to prove his Filipino citizenship.