BY NOLI CORTEZ
MACAU — Unless some teams take a nibble at a pair of baits Talk N Text has
dangled, the Phone Pals will be forced to make hard decisions before the next
PBA season starts in October.
With the PBA Board members heading back home Thursday after
finishing their directional meeting here Wednesday, the Phone Pals still have to
find any takers for forwards Jay Washington and Harvey Carey who are on the
trading block.
The Phone Pals are hard-pressed to unload at least one of the
five Fil-Ams in their roster before they can tab US-born Jared Dillinger in the
PBA Rookie Draft on Sunday at the Market! Market! in Taguig.
Dillinger, a South Dakota-born guard out of the University of
Hawaii, is expected to be made the No. 2 pick overall by the Phone Pals after
Welcoat, picking first, tabs Gabe Norwood–if the latter is eligible.
Under league rules, a team is allowed to line up only five
Fil-foreign players in the coming season that starts Oct. 4. A team that has
more than five Fil-foreigners will be forced to unload the surplus.
With no team having expressed interest in either Washington
or Carey, the Phone Pals face the possibility of not getting anything in return
since any player who is not on the active list automatically becomes an
unrestricted free agent.
Aside from Washington and Carey, the other Fil-foreign
players in the TNT roster are Jimmy Alapag, Ali Peek and Kalani Ferreria.
Ricky Vargas, TNT’s representative to the board, has left for
a pre-scheduled business meeting in Hong Kong and could not be reached for
comment on his team’s options.
Ferreria’s contract runs until February, while the contracts
of Alapag, Carey and Peek expired last July 31. Washington’s contract ended last
Aug. 15.
While Alapag and Peek are sure to be resigned, it’s not clear
what the team’s options are on Carey and the 6-foot-7 Washington.
The loss of either Carey, a 6-foot-4, hard-nosed banger, and
the 6-foot-7 Washington, who is a threat both inside and outside, could take a
toll on a TNT team aching to bounce back from a seventh place finish in the last
Fiesta Conference.
Ginebra, meanwhile, is expected to get off to another slow
start, with the team’s backcourt duo of Mark Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand
expected to be out for at least a month to heal various injuries.
Caguioa has tendonitis on both knees while Helterbrand is
also undergoing full treatment for his pulled left hamstring suffered early in
the Fiesta Finals against Air21, which Ginebra won through the brilliance of
import Chris Alexander, Ronald Tubid and Eric Menk in the deciding seventh game.
The Kings went on a 0-5 start in the Fiesta Conference but
finished hot.
