Justine Baltazar during the PBA Rookie Draft combine.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Each time Converge suffered a loss in the previous PBA season, the team saw hope in a refrain: Things will change once the FiberXers gain a talented rookie from the draft.
Following the annual selection Sunday last week, that prospect turned out to be Justine Baltazar, a 6-foot-9 big man who previously served the Gilas Pilipinas program and has been plying his trade in other pro leagues for quite a while now.
But whether Baltazar is truly the player the telco franchise needs to prosper—and go deeper in the playoffs—remains to be seen, if you ask FiberXers head coach Aldin Ayo.
“Our objective is to be decent. We are competitive, but if we are to compare our squad to the other teams, we are still far away,” he told the Inquirer.
“But there’s no denying we are having some progress with the arrival of ‘Balti,’” Ayo said of the two-way forward whom he also coached while calling the shots for La Salle’s Green Archers program.
Dead last
After making the playoff round three thrice during its entry into Asia’s pioneering pro league two years ago, Converge finished dead last in the league’s two conferences last season.
The campaign was so uncharacteristic of the squad considering how it was able to rack up a .500 winning rate and then crash to a laughable .136 just a year later despite having one of its players, Justine Araña, crowned Rookie of the Year.
Getting an answer to the Baltazar question is also going to take time for Converge as the rookie is only expected to join the FiberXers once he is done fulfilling his duties for Pampanga Giant Lanterns in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League, where he is also the reigning Most Valuable Player.
Talent can wait
Ayo played it coy when asked what he felt about having to wait a little longer for Baltazar’s presence.
“What we lacked last year was talent and time to grow. We’ve had enough time last conference to have our rookies hone their skills,” he said.
“Talent? That can wait,” Ayo went on. “What’s most important is having time.”
If anything, Converge also has four other picks to take a closer look at when it shoots for a return to the playoffs in the PBA’s upcoming 49th season, among them Letran’s Pao Javillonar and La Salle’s two-sport athlete Ben Philips III.
“We didn’t expect that our last season would turn out that way. But we’re really grateful that we’ll soon be getting the help that we need,” Ayo said.