Fil-American guards Maverick Ahanmisi and Jerramy King displayed their sheer athleticism during the 2015 Gatorade PBA Draft Combine Wednesday at Gatorade Hoops Center in Mandaluyong.
Ahanmisi, who was an integral part of the Cafe France Bakers during their championship run in the PBA D-League, topped the first batch of aspirants in the 3/4 Court Sprint clocking 3.43 seconds, and the Lane Agility Drill at 11.22 seconds.
READ: Is Fil-Am Maverick Ahanmisi the next Stanley Pringle?
“It was a good time. Just came out here and tried to give my best and still have fun with all the players,” said the 6-foot-2 Ahanmisi, who is a product of University of Minnesota.
“It just shows I’ve been working hard preparing for this and like I said I just want to have fun and at the same time show my skills,” he added.
Maverick Ahanmisi. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
The 5-foot-10 King, who shone for AMA University in the D-League, bested all rookie hopefuls in the morning session with a Maximum Vertical Leap of 38.5 inches. He also had the quickest Reaction Time at 0.372 tenths of a second.
READ: After success in D-League, Fil-Nigerian guard ready for PBA
King was in the top five in the four major tests. He was fifth in the 3/4 Court Sprint and second to Ahanmisi in the Lane Agility Drill with a time of 11.53 ticks.
Jerramy King. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Another D-Leaguer and Fil-American in Simon Enciso impressed in the drills with his name appearing in all tests except in the Reaction Time.
The 64 hopefuls were alphabetically divided into two batches. Top prospects like Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome and Norbert Torres are part of the second group that will take part in the same set of drills and tests in the afternoon session.
San Beda trio of Art dela Cruz, Baser Amer and Garvo Lanete were present at the Draft Combine but the three did not participate due to respective reasons. Lanete and Amer had to pass up due to injuries while dela Cruz opted to take a rest after playing last night in the NCAA.
READ: Selected rookie hopefuls gather for 2nd Under Armour x Slam PH PBA Draft Suite
Consensus top two picks Moala Tautuaa and Troy Rosario are also skipping the Combine due to their commitments with the Gilas Pilipinas team, which is in Northern Europe to play exhibition games against Estonia, Iceland and Netherlands.
The Gatorade Draft Combine is a requirement for all rookie aspirants for their Draft application to be finalized.
The 2015 Gatorade Rookie Draft is on August 23 at Robinson’s Midtown in Ermita, Manila. CFC