Blacwater Elite picks Mac Belo in the special draft. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Mac Belo hopes to bring his championship pedigree from the amateur ranks to Blackwater in the PBA.
The soft spoken forward from Far Eastern University headed Gilas Pilipinas pool players, who were distributed to all 12 teams to open the 2016 PBA Rookie Draft Sunday at Robinsons Place Manila.
“Ibibigay ko lang yung best ko para manalo kami tsaka may mga veterans din naman sa team tapos may mga young guys sina Art (dela Cruz) so maganda din yung team namin,” Belo said.
“Nandoon yung pressure pero ready naman akong i-accept yung challenge. Kung anong iharap sa aking challenge, ready naman ako,” he added.
Belo won a UAAP championship in his final year with the Tamaraws before leading the Phoenix Accelerators to a couple of titles in the PBA D-League.
As expected, Belo, one of the best young talents in the country today, went to the Elite, who had the first pick after finishing with the worst record the past season.
Point guard Jiovani Jalalon out of Arellano University was plucked by rebuilding Star, while lengthy forward Kevin Ferrer, a former University of Santo Tomas star, went to 2016 Governors’ Cup champion Barangay Ginebra.
Alaska selected banger Carl Bryan Cruz , GlobalPort snagged sniper Von Pessumal, and forward Russel Escoto went to Mahindra.
Meralco got Ed Daquioag, NLEX claimed Fonso Gotladera while Fil-Canadian shooter Matthew Wright reunited with coach Ariel Vanguardia in Phoenix.
Wright and Vanguardia shared a championship in the Asean Basketball League as part of the KL Dragons.
Rain or Shine bolstered its backcourt with the acquisition of slasher Mike Tolomia, San Miguel Beer nabbed former La Salle big man Arnold Van Opstal while TNT rounded out the special draft, nabbing Roger Pogoy./rga