After securing Belo, Blackwater to pick Banal at no. 1

AFTER languishing in the PBA doldrums in its first two seasons, Blackwater is looking at brighter things ahead after basically tabbing cornerstones in two Draft processes.

“The honeymoon period is over,” owner Dioceldo Sy told the Inquirer as his Elite select 6-foot-2 point guard Raphael Banal first overall in the regular rookie proceedings Sunday at Robinson’s Place Manila.

Banal will be the second high-profile rookie to join the Elite, who also made former Far Eastern gunslinger Mac Belo No. 1 in the separate Draft among Gilas Cadet pool members on Thursday.

“Now we have a formidable team,” Sy went on, admitting his excitement of kissing the doormat image days of the Elite goodbye. “We are targeting to make at least the quarterfinals each conference.
“Our modest goal for the coming season is to finish either seventh or eighth overall,” Sy continued. “If we can go higher, then it would be better.”

Blackwater will be entering its third season and would like to put the first two behind after failing to make it past the eliminations in its first six conferences.

The Elite traded away Carlo Lastimosa very recently to get James Forrester from NLEX. Forrester has greatly underachieved in his first two seasons in the pros with two teams before and is also looking at redemption with his new team.

Should Forrester and Banal play according to expectations and Belo comes up with the numbers worthy of being a No. 1 pick, Blackwater has potentially one of the beefiest, talented guard rotations in the league.