MANILA, Philippines—Alaska wants to win again and is looking at an old formula that rewarded the franchise with a grand slam, just the fourth in the Philippine Basketball Association, 12 years ago.

With a solid guard rotation already in place, the Aces acquired sophomore Fil-American Joe Devance in a trade with Welcoat during Draft Day last Sunday and coach Tim Cone swears that he sees one of his former mainstays in the 6-foot-7 forward.

“I see a lot of Bong Hawkins in him, though he is not as physical,” Cone said, referring to the 6-foot-4 Hawkins, one of the wiliest players in the league in his time who, despite his size, was the force inside for Alaska.

Hawkins played 15 years in the PBA and it was a player of his talent that Alaska missed last season when the Aces struggled to make the playoffs and failed to reach the finals in each of the two conferences.

Alaska won all three titles in 1996 with a team built around Hawkins, Johnny Abarrientos, Jojo Lastimosa and Jeffrey Cariaso, using the Triangle Offense with great effect.

The Aces now boast former two-time MVP Willie Miller in the backcourt, and Cariaso is still around. Lastimosa’s strengths are being supplied by a bevy of young turks led by Larry Fonacier.

“He (Devance) is a good fit in the Triangle (offense) and he supplies us with vastly different looks in our frontline,” Cone said. “He’s a good complement to Sonny Thoss (Alaska’s center).

“I don’t have a very strong team, but what we have is a complete team.”

Alaska nabbed Devance, last year’s top rookie pick, from Rain or Shine (formerly Welcoat) by giving away Solomon Mercado in last week’s annual Rookie Draft at Market! Market! Mall in Taguig City.

Mercado, picked fifth overall by the Aces before being shipped to Rain or Shine, has been inked to a lucrative deal by the Elastopainters, who failed to make it past the elimination round in each of their first four tournaments in the league.

Rain or Shine is trying to form a guard rotation like what Barangay Ginebra has in Jay-Jay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa with Mercado playing alongside Gabe Norwood.

Norwood, the 6-foot-5 forward who was the US NCAA Division I’s top sixth man awardee with George Mason University, was the first choice this year.

The Elastopainters gave up Devance and grabbed Mercado to complete their formidable backcourt, while also taking veteran Eddie Laure and giving up two future second round choices in the deal.