The Masters

Welcoat earned first pick rights

 
MANILA,
Philippines – Welcoat earned the right to pick first in this year’s
Philippine Basketball Association rookie draft after the Draft Lottery
was held Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Dragons, last
placers in the last two seasons and four conferences overall, are
expected to choose Gabe Norwood but if only the US-raised Filipino
submits his certificate of affirmation from the Department of Justice
and a certificate from the Bureau of Immigration in time.

If not, Welcoat is likely to pick Jason Castro or another “Fil-Am" Solomon Mercado.

Welcoat, which gets to pick first for a second straight season, beat Talk ’N Text for the top draft rights.

The Phone Pals will settle for the second and fourth picks, with Magnolia picking third.  Alaska will have the No. 5 choice.

The
sixth choice will depend out the outcome of the Fiesta Cup. Purefoods
will end up that pick if Air21 wins the conference, with the Express
landing at No. 7. The two teams will then swap draft ranks if the
Express lose to Ginebra in the finals

 Magnolia is ranked eighth and Red Bull, for finishing second runner-up in the two tournaments in the season, has the ninth pick.

Sta. Lucia, which won the Philippine Cup, will have the last pick in the first round.

A new rumor has it that after the Fiesta Conference of the PBA,
Magnolia Beverage Masters will be negotiating a deal with the Welcoat
Dragons that would send Danny Seigle to Welcoat in exchange for Joe
Devance.

The rumor started when it was reported that Seigle was
not receptive of the system that Magnolia head coach, Siot Tancquincen,
wants to adopt. Welcoat emerge as the most likely team involved because
they need a legitimate go-to-guy to break their streak of being
eliminated for the sixth straight conference since joining the league
in 2006.

Besides, the 6-foot-7 Fil-American center Devance was
not the ‘total package’ that Welcoat expected him to be when they
picked him first in last year’s draft. Devance only averaged, 11.3
points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 27.6 minutes of action this
Conference.

The 6-foot-6, 32-year old Seigle, on the other hand,
has a slightly better numbers: 14.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.6 apg and a
respectable 37.0 percent from the arc in 26.3 minutes on the floor.

The
deal is supposed to also involve some draft picks and players like
Wesley Gonzales and Cris Calaguio from Magnolia, while Mark Isip will
be the likely player to be shipped out from Welcoat.

It can be
remembered that last year, there were also rumors that Magnolia was
trying to pry Devance from Welcoat Joe Devance by offering Samigue Eman
plus either Lordy Tugade or Chris Calaguio.

Calaguio once played
with coach Leo Austria, then handling Shell before it folded up in
2005, but the Dragons did not give up Devance and even tried to form a
team to complement him.

This time with Seigle on the other end, the temptation may be very hard to resist for the Dragons.