INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines - Two Fil-Am cagers boasting famous relatives and another league MVP have signed up for the PBA Rookie Draft set on Aug. 2.

Chris Ross, the Fil-Am guard who captured the PBL Best Player of the Conference last month, raised the amateur MVP count in the draft pool to three.

Josh Vanlandingham, a great grandson of the only Filipino double Olympic medalist, Teofilo Yldefonso, also signed up for the draft along with Kevin Alapag White, a nephew of Talk ‘N Text guard Jimmy Alapag.

The 6-foot-1 Ross had been described by several PBL coaches as “quick and creative” and “a warrior” with “a good leaping ability.”

A former standout of Marshall University in Texas, Ross highlighted his stint last conference with a pair of triple-doubles.

Ross, who averaged 13.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and led the league both in assists at 8.1 and steals at 2.0, also helped Pharex reach the PBL finals for the first time since joining the league two years ago.

Vanlandingham, a 6-foot-3 swingman from Pacific Lutherian University in Washington, also had an impressive run that included a PBL season-high of 32 points.

“Josh is really a very good shooter,” said coach Egay Macaraya, Vanlandingham’s Licealiz coach.

White, who arrived from Los Angeles, California, also played briefly in the PBL.

PBL Finals MVP winner Chris Timberlake and former UAAP MVP Jervy Cruz of University of Santo Tomas were among the early hopefuls.

Timberlake, a former University of North Florida standout, averaged 11.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.5 blocks in Oracle’s title series against Pharex.

Cruz leads the local aspirants along with La Salle’s athletic big man Rico Maierhofer.