PBA draft more about them, then and now

GIVE it to the giants. It was their day at the PBA Draft on Sunday at Robinsons Malate in Manila.

Greg Slaughter was the tallest catch at nearly 7-feet. He was snared by Ginebra, which now has a total of two behemoths for the most popular team in the PBA today.

Slaughter will join 6’9” Japeth Aguilar at Ginebra, making them easily as the league’s most legitimate Twin Towers.

Slaughter, who starred in Ateneo’s historic conquest of a fifth UAAP crown in 2012, is a natural center while Aguilar fits to a T the role of No. 4 (power forward). Their combined ceiling of 13 feet and 9 inches is the tallest ever from homegrown talents for a single team in the PBA.

Their presence makes Ginebra as the favorite to win the Philippine Cup, formerly the All-Filipino series, that blasts off on Nov. 17.

Not only did Ginebra reinforce its middle but also its wings and backcourt. It shipped the problematic Kerby Raymundo to Meralco for Jay-R Reyes, the quietly effective wingman, and Rob Labagala to Barako Bull for Emman Monfort. Monfort is the league’s shortest at only about 5-foot-7, but he played spectacularly in the last conference to merit a slot at Ginebra’s star-studded bench that include Mark Caguioa, Jayjay Helterbrand and national team mainstay LA Tenorio.

Interestingly, Slaughter is also from Cebu, where another giant, 6-foot-10 June Mar Fajardo, also hails from. Fajardo had just helped Petron Blaze, a sister team of Ginebra, finish second behind San Mig Coffee in the Governors’ Cup.

But the country is no stranger to seeing giants coming from Cebu—or more accurately—from Cebu’s schools.

The 6’4” Ramon Fernandez, from Maasin, Leyte, and the 6’5” Abet Guidaben, from Camiguin Island, were both discovered in two different Cebu universities. Fernandez and Guidaben went on to become two of the greatest Filipino basketball players of all time. Fernandez now lives in Cebu City and Guidaben in New York City.

Ah, Abet. I had coffee with him in 2006 at Radio City in “Nuyok,” where he repairs/renovates houses. But that’s another story worth writing about. Soon.