MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Cup losing semifinalists San Mig Coffee and Alaska Milk and three other teams that went short of their bids in the PBA first conference agreed on a multi-trade transaction involving 10 players plus a future draft pick yesterday.
Petron Blaze acquired Ronald Tubid from Barako Bull for Jojo Duncil and Alex Mallari to set in motion the five-team trade deal approved by PBA commissioner Chito Salud.
After acquiring Mallari, the Energy Cola packaged the Fil-Am rookie guard with veteran forward Leo Najorda and another rookie playmaker Lester Alvarez plus a future draft pick, bringing them over to San Mig Coffee for JC Intal, Jonas Villanueva and Aldrech Ramos.
Afterwards, Barako dealt Ramos to Alaska Milk for Mac Baracael who eventually ended up with Barangay Ginebra in exchange for Alein Maliksi.
San Mig Coffee, Petron, Barako Bull, Ginebra and Alaska effected some changes in their lineups with 17 days to go before the opening of the Commissioner’s Cup where the Mixers defend the crown that they won in a classic seven-game title duel with the Talk n Text Tropang Texters last year.
The Mixers made a successful run while playing under the banner of B-Meg Llamados with Denzel Bowles as import.
Coach Tim Cone wanted to bring back Bowles but the James Madison U product is still tied up with the Chinese league. The Mixers instead signed up Matt Rogers who flew in Monday.
Aside from Rogers, other imports set to see action in the mid-season tourney are 6-11 Keith Benson for Talk n Text, 7-2 Bruno Sundov for Rain or Shine, 6-11 Justin Williams for Globalport, 6-8 Renaldo Balkman for Petron Blaze, 6-10 Herbert Hill for Barangay Ginebra, 6-10 Michael Dunigan for Air21, 6-9 Eric Dawson for Meralco, 6-9 Robert Dozier for Alaska and 6-9 Even Brock for Barako Bull.
Rogers played with the Texas Legends in the 2011-12 NBA D-League season, putting in 7.1 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. In the last NBA Summer League, he hooked up with the Indiana Pacers, playing five games.
Benson, Sundov, Williams, Balkman, Hill and Dawson all came in with NBA credentials.
Last season, Benson played briefly with Golden State. He was the Atlanta Hawks’ second-round pick in the 2011 NBA draft.
Sundov, also a second-round NBA draft pick, had a long eight-year stint in the majors, playing for Dallas, Indiana, Boston, Cleveland and New York. The Croatian behemoth averaged 1.7 points and 1.0 rebound through his NBA career.
Balkman carries the most impressive NBA card, being a first-round pick who went on to average 4.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in 221 games in six seasons with the Knicks and the Nuggets.
The Puerto Rican player was the Knicks’ 20th pick in the 2006 NBA draft, chosen ahead of Rajon Rondo (21sT). Traded to Denver in 2008, Balkman found his way back to New York in 2011 as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Sheldan Williams and Anthony Carter to the Knicks’ fold.
Hill is also a second-round draftee, chosen by the Utah Jazz at 55th overall in 2007.
A native of Ulm, Germany who played college basketball for Providence from 2003-2007, Hill strutted his stuffs in the majors with the Jazz and the Philadelphia Sixers.
Williams and Dawson were undrafted but nonetheless found their way to the NBA. The former got brief tenures with the Sacramento Kings and the Houston Rockets while the latter played with the San Antonio Spurs in the last NBA wars.