Ordeals of the undrafted

Rookie hopefuls.

At the bidding of the league commissioner, the cream of the new batch of rookies came up to the stage one after the other and embraced their new teams.

At a long table across the stage, John Tayongtong, McJour Luib and Jon Ortuoste fidgeted on their seats, waiting for the call of the commissioner that never came.

This otherwise prolific trio of guards from the NCAA college hoops were among the 17 hopefuls who went home unnoticed—and unappreciated—during the recent 2016 Gatorade PBA Rookie Draft at the Atrium of Robinsons Place Manila.

They shared the feeling of dejection, although you couldn’t really see it in their eyes. Teams in the pro league may have snubbed them for now but they haven’t lost hope of someday playing alongside the PBA’s millionaire superstars.

“I guess I have to work harder to make it to the PBA,” Ortuoste lamented as his failure to get drafted by any of the league’s 12 teams this season gnawed at his self-confidence as a player. “It will be difficult [to get into the PBA], but I’m not losing hope. I just have to keep on improving my game.”

The 5-foot-10 former San Sebastian point guard, who also played for the Racal and Wangs ball clubs in the amateur PBA Developmental League

(D-League), cannot be faulted for coming up short. Teams either needed tall forwards and mobile centers or they were simply swamped with too many talented sentinels to choose from in the recent batch of rookie applicants.

In the pro league’s scheme of things, undrafted players automatically become rookie free agents. They can go back to the D-League or suit up as practice players for a PBA team. But the road to gain a spot in a regular roster can be anything but smooth.

“Of course, I’m disappointed,” said the 5-11 Tayongtong, a quick-footed high-scoring point guard out of Emilio Aguinaldo College who figured in a punching incident in his last game in the NCAA. “But I see it as a challenge for me to become a better player. I’m not giving up just because I wasn’t drafted.”

For Luib, who helped the Letran Knights capture the 2015 NCAA men’s basketball championship over fierce rivals San Beda Red Lions, he has a ready fallback play to latch on: He is trying his hand at coaching.

The crafty 5-10 guard from Cagayan de Oro has been tapped by his former Letran mentor and now La Salle coach Aldin Ayo as one of his assistants. Luib helps Ayo sharpen up the Green Archers’ backcourt as the UAAP season, which La Salle has dominated so far, moves into the Final Four playoff stage.

Right after an ecstatic Levi Hernandez celebrated unabashedly on stage as the Draft’s final rookie pick by TNT

KaTropa, a pall of gloom also descended on undrafted aspirants Edsel Mag-isa of the PSBA Jaguars and John Ambolodto of the St. Clare Saints—two vertically gifted players who can add ceiling to any team with their 6-5 frames.

A group of NCAA veterans such as Lyceum’s Jhygruz Laude, St. Benilde’s Dexter Garcia and Jose Rizal University’s Cris Dela Paz and Jaycee Asuncion didn’t even merit a second look, while the 5-7 Charles Caluya, the oldest Draft hopeful at 43, knew what was coming and just relished the feeling of being a participant in the annual affair.

“Just to play alongside the best players in the country during the rookie tryouts is already an accomplishment for me,” said Caluya, who never played competitive ball during his college days at University of the East.

Little-known players such as Jerald Cueto of College of the Canyons (California), Billy Ray Robles of Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College, St. Clare’s Jayson Ibay and Centro Escolar University’s Aaron Jeruta were similarly not on the radar of the PBA teams.

On the other side of the rookies’ table, UE teammates Erwin Duran, Gino Jumao-as and Gene Belleza shared a look of defeat as they watched the newly drafted, led by Ael Banal (Blackwater), Gelo Alolino (Phoenix), Barangay Ginebra’s Jammer Jamito and Mahindra’s Joseph Eriobu, pose for photographs with the veteran players, coaches, and officials of their new teams.

“You don’t want to look into their eyes as they wait in vain to be called,” said a sportswriter who followed the proceedings. “You get to share in the disappointment of the undrafted rookies, many of whom you’ve come to know after covering their games in the UAAP, NCAA and the other leagues. You don’t even want to console them; take your pity elsewhere. These players dream of playing in the PBA. Now they think they are unneeded.”

Gilas Cadet mainstays led by Mac Belo, Jiovani Jalalon and Kevin Ferrer were already selected ahead of the regular bunch of rookies through a special Draft that dispersed the national players to the 12 ballclubs.

A total of 38 players were chosen by the teams in the rookie selection that reached the sixth round before TNT finally ended it with its final pick, the stealthy playmaker Hernandez.

Banal, Alolino and Jamito were the top three picks in the regular draft followed by Eriobu, Chris Javier (Star), Rashawn McCarthy (San Miguel), Jonathan Grey (Meralco), Reden Celda (NLEX), Jericho de Guzman (Ginebra) and Jeoffrey Javillonar (Phoenix). Rain or Shine and Alaska didn’t make any selection in the regular proceedings.

Other lucky hopefuls on Draft night were Tristan Perez (Blackwater), Al Francis Tamsi (GlobalPort), Jessie Saitanan (Meralco), Jovit Dela Cruz (San Miguel), Ryan Arambulo (GlobalPort), Nico Javelona (Phoenix), Cedrick Ablaza (Mahindra) and Alejandrino Inigo Jr. (Phoenix).

Closing out the selection were Jan Jamon for Mahindra, John Eman for Global Port, Ryusei Koga for Meralco, Timothy Habelito (TNT), Paolo Pontejos (Mahindra), Mikee Reyes (TNT) and Hernandez.

Probability-wise, players chosen deep into the rookie exercise hardly make the cut in the lineup and could end up as reserve players. But without any contract offer from the front office, they will eventually join the rookie free-agent market.

“It’s a super competitive league,” says Willie Marcial, the PBA’s media bureau chief. “You need to be at your best possible shape to keep your spot in the team that picked you.”

But while the top PBA rookies could rake in millions of pesos in the years to come, the undrafted will either kiss their PBA dreams goodbye or toil in the D-League while waiting for a call from the front office of any of the dozen teams.

Though their chances of getting noticed are slim to nil, no one is certain that the call will never come.