Davon Potts. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Declaring himself for the 2017 PBA Rookie Draft is more than just basketball decision for Davon Potts.
He also looks at it as a chance to reconnect with his Filipino roots and get to know his relatives from Rosario, Cavite.
“This isn’t just about basketball. I think it’s important that I came here,” he said.
It’s a facet of Potts’ life that he really put a premium on since arriving to the country coming from the United States two years ago.
“I feel like there’s a lot of Fil-foreigners who come here just to play basketball, but I think that’s not the right way to think. I think you should really know where you came from,” he said.
“There’s a lot of Fil-foreigners who don’t take advantage of knowing where they come from and for me, it’s really important to know those things, where and how it all started, and to make sure that basketball is more of a tool to get back to my Buendia family. That was a bigger thing for me.”
Entering the draft also moves Potts closer to realizing the promise he made to his deceased grandfather years back.
“I didn’t know the PBA until I talked to my grandfather. He told me that if I couldn’t make it in the NBA, why not try the PBA. He said [the PBA] is like the NBA of the Philippines and I should look it up,” Potts recalled.
“It’s funny because when I was visiting him in San Diego, he told me to at least make him that promise, that, ‘If I can’t make it to the NBA, the NBA D-League, at least, you try.’ I knew I have a family here and he told me to just try. And I tried.”
That’s why Potts doesn’t have any doubts when he decided to make the jump to the pros.
“I’m very prepared. I think about the promise I had to my grandfather a lot and I really believe that I’m ready. This is the product of years and years or preparation,” the 6-foot-3 swingman said.
Potts believes he is a two-way player, someone who is effective on both ends of the floor.
“Coach Jamike allowed me to thrive on the offensive part of my game, while coach Boyet exposed me to the defense. Dealing with them in my time with San Beda gave me great upside as I enter the PBA,” he said.
With his confidence on a high, all Potts wants is to land on a team where his talents will be maximized.
“I’d rather be on a team that needs me than a team that wants me because I want a team that needs me for the services I can give to the team,” he said.
Potts feels he would be a good fit to teams like NLEX, Ginebra, Alaska, and TNT
“There are teams that need help and I want to be that person who gives that help to the team that picks me.”