Beermen eyeing ‘best talent available’

San Miguel Beer will be tapping the best talent available when it makes its selection in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Annual Rookie Draft this Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall.

Beermen coach Leo Austria said they have yet to decide on who to tap in the 128-man draft pool that is bannered by quality players like Jason Brickman, Ljay Gonzales, Will Gozum and Juan Gomez de Liaño.

The Beermen will be picking ninth in the first round, but making the choice will not be easy, especially since they are loaded in almost all positions after winning their 30th title in the Philippine Cup last July.

“We will see,” said Austria, adding that they are still studying what position they are willing to fill.

“As of now, we have not pinpointed any particular player because we’ll be picking at No. 9. I think if we decide on who to pick, he’ll be gone by the time we have to make a choice.”

“With that, we’ll just settle for the best talent available at No. 9 and then we’ll see. We don’t have any trade assets and, at the same time, we have to reward the players who were with us when we won the title.”

Austria said they have already started their preparation for the coming season, starting with the Philippine Cup on 5 October.

“We’ve already started our practices last 28 August until Saturday. But that was just a warmup,” said Austria, adding that they are far from being complete as key players like June Mar Fajardo (calf), CJ Perez (sprain) and Jericho Cruz (hamstring) are still recovering from their respective injuries.

“Our daily grind is Monday to Saturday but we’re still not yet complete. Hopefully, we’ll be complete after the draft.”

Austria said the coming conference will not be easy.

TNT Tropang 5G will definitely knock the crown off their heads after they spoiled their grand slam run while perennial contenders like Barangay Ginebra, Rain or Shine and the new-look Magnolia are expected to make their presence felt. Of course, squads like Terrafirma, Phoenix and Blackwater should also not be taken lightly since they are expected to get a massive boost due to their solid positions in the coming draft.

“That’s why we require our injured players to show up in practices so just in case that there are some adjustments that we need to implement, they can get it right away,” Austria said.