Arboleda boosts RP Powerade

MANILA, Philippines - Burger King chief playmaker Wynne Arboleda has been included in the Powerade Team Pilipinas competing in the Jones Cup in Taipei starting Saturday with Jayjay Helterbrand and Ryan Reyes nursing injuries.

RP coach Yeng Guiao said Arboleda may even play all the way to the Fiba-Asia championship in Tianjin, China in August if Helterbrand and Reyes fail to recover in time.

Guiao and his staff are to name their final 12 players before July 22, the deadline for submission of lineup for the Tianjin joust.

The fiery national mentor, however, is still hopeful Helterbrand and Reyes can still make it to the team since they can be of big help in their bid to make the top three in the Asian championship for a slot in the world meet in Turkey next year.

Reyes has yet to rejoin the team since suffering a hamstring injury in the first game of the RP team in the SEABA championship in Medan, Indonesia last month.

Helterbrand skipped the SEABA tourney on the order of his doctors. He returned to play for Ginebra only after almost a three-week rest but was injured again in the closing minutes of Game Four of the PBA Fiesta Conference finals Wednesday.

Reyes and Helterbrand happen to be the only legitimate point guards in the original RP pool.

With Helterbrand and Reyes out, Willie Miller and Gabe Norwood were left to tend the backcourt for the Nationals in the SEABA championship. Miller and Norwood are more comfortable playing off-guard.

With Arboleda included in the roster, Guiao can play Miller and Norwood at the point or at two-guard spot.

Arboleda, a member of the PBA Best Defensive Team the last three years and of the Mythical Second Team in 2007, has started practicing with the Nationals Monday.

The hard-nosed guard, together with Mark Yee and Beau Belga, has played with the Nationals in their tune-up match with the visiting Soldiers of Christ team recently. – Nelson Beltran