TNT future still rosy even without early PBA Draft pick

TNT was unable to snag a talent early in last Sunday’s PBA Rookie Draft, an offshoot of a move the team pulled out months before which coach Chot Reyes surely hopes would still make his Tropang Giga better in the years to come.

“It’s really the product of a decision we made when we traded for a player who was eventually Henry Galinato,” the decorated mentor told the Inquirer, referring to the 6-foot-6 former University of the Philippines Maroon who was selected 15th overall by Yeng Guiao and the Elasto Painters in last year’s Draft.

Galinato finding his way to TNT was a deal that happened hours before last year’s Draft. It meant TNT giving up Dave Marcelo and its first round pick to the Elasto Painters next year.

“Taking a look at the class this year, if we were [still picking at] No. 7 (the pick TNT gave up), I don’t think we’d be able to land someone better than Henry,” he went on.

TNT lost the chance to draft midway through the first round of this year’s annual selection after sending that pick away for Blackwater’s Rey Nambatac, a former cornerstone of Rain or Shine and a previous member of the national youth team who, coincidentally, was also the seventh overall pick in the 2017 pool.

Reyes, though, was able to snag point guard Jared Brown in the third round, the 31st overall pick in the proceedings. The Elasto Painters, with talents like Justine Baltazar, Dave Ildefonso, and Jonnel Policarpio already secured by other teams, eventually used this year’s seventh pick on 6-foot-4 Caelan Tiongson, a 32-year-old Filipino-American who saw Division I action in the US National Collegiate Athletic Association before plying his trade overseas. He is now playing for the Strong Group Athletics selection currently competing in the Jones Cup in Taiwan.

‘Still all good’

TNT also missed out on a chance to select in the second round of the draft after it dealt away that pick to Converge, which the telco club eventually used to select big man Pao Javillonar (19th overall).

“Overall, [we are] still all good. Those are decisions we have to live with,” Reyes said with a shrug and a smile.

However, he was noticeably candid when asked who TNT would’ve taken if the traditional powerhouse had a chance to pick early in what many regarded as a top-heavy draft class.

“Kai Ballungay,” Reyes said, referring to the Ateneo swingman who won a championship with Tab Baldwin in the UAAP of the Philippines during the 2021 season.

“That’s exactly what we don’t have now—a shooting big,” he added of the Filipino-American prospect, taken at No. 4 by the NorthPort franchise.