One of the most exciting thing in being a professional basketball fan is monitoring prospects. And today, we will continue our rundown of the top prospects, providing grades with what they exhibited in the All Filipino Cup.
So, let us continue scrutinizing the top young bloods.
Prospect - Maybe we have different definitions of a prospect. For me, they are the young players that are not yet fully develop or were not given enough opportunity to show us how concrete their ceiling is.
NLEX - Alfonso Gotladera
This was supposed to be Kiefer Ravena but what he did in the 2018 Philippine Cup was enough to say that he is no longer a prospect. He is already a top 10 guard in the league.
In the 2016 Gilas draft, Gotladera was no doubt, the least hype. And I think, he went to NLEX because coach Yeng was one of those guys who are very confident of his skills that he was fine in getting the worst of the bunch.
The great thing about Ponso is that he is still young, only 25 years old. Unfortunately, he did not show anything in the Philippine Cup. He averaged 1.9 points, 38.5% FG and 2.5 rebounds.
NLEX fans can still trust coach Yeng about him. He is still young and has good size.
Grade: E
TNT - RR Pogoy
RR Pogoy was one of the surprised of the 2016 Gilas draft. In his rookie season, he battled well for the Rookie of the Year award. He was so crafty in handling the ball and so great in positioning himself in the court.
In the 2018 Philippine Cup, he manufactured 13.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 steals. He is a great player on both ends of the court. Defensively, he is skilled in making sure that he is always on the face of his man.
Unfortunately, his efficiency was absurd. He only shot 42.9% in the field and 17% from outside the arc. Actually, he only connected on 9 long bombs!
For a guy who was supposed to be a great shooter, that is unacceptable. But, we cannot discount his development on other areas. Pumping his rebounding numbers is just what the doctor ordered because he will surely play SF now because Jericho Cruz and Terrence Romeo are on the team.
Grade: B
RAIN OR SHINE - Rey Nambatac
Rain or Shine has four legit prospects. They are Rey, Ed Daquioag, Sidney Onwubere and Norbert Torres.Torres is just a new arrival, Ed is older than Sidney and Rey and Sidney was chosen a pick below Rey.
So, I think their top prospect is Rey. Rey was supposed to be this stat-filling guard, in the mold of Earl Scottie Thompson. He averaged 5.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 39% FG and 46% 3FG.
In a sense, he met the hype. His rebounding is really good for a guard and he can also make the right passes.
But his 39% FG is really disturbing. He is having a hard time reaching the rim and his midrange shots are clunkers.
Fortunately for him, his three-point shooting is gold. 46% is beyond elite in the league. And the promising thing about it was, he was averaging 1.1 hit per game.
Being a stat-filling, 3-and-D guard could be a unique weapon to have.
Grade: C
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