Alaska made a bold move in its attempt to regain the upcoming 2008-2009 Philippine Cup, acquiring 6-7 Fil-Am Joe Devance from the Rain or Shine Elasto Masters, bolstering their frontline in the process.

Devance, who was last years' top draft pick, averaged 11.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in 27.6 minutes last year, but was somewhat of a disappointment after failing to lift the Dragons out of the cellar. 2008.

The Elasto Masters, in return, got the services of 2008 Rookie draft 5th overall pick Solomon Mercado, who is in the mold of a Mark Caguioa and Willie Miller as a big-time scorer, and former MBA Most Valuable Player Eddie Laure.

The 6-foot-7 Devance joins 6-foot-7 Sonny Thoss, the 6-foot-4 John Ferriols, the 6-foot-4 JR Quinahan and (possibly) the 6-foot-9 Eric Canlas to form a huge frontline for the Aces that could match up to the big boys of any other team in the league.

We gave up a lot, said Cone. We really believe in Mercado. It was an agonizing decision. We believe he is going to be a great player down the line. You really hate to give up on a special player like that so early in his career.

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2008 PBA Rookie Draft Result
First Round
1. Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine)
2. Jared Dillinger (Talk 'N Text)
3. Jason Castro (Talk 'N Text - Rights traded by San Miguel for Jay Washington)
4. Rob Reyes (Talk 'N Text)
5. Solomon Mercado (Alaska)
6. Mark Borboran (Air21)
7. Beau Belga (Purefoods)
8. Bonbon Custudio (San Miguel)
9. Larry Rodriguez (Red Bull)
10. Kelvin Gregorio (Sta. Lucia)

Second Round
11. Pong Escobal (Talk 'N Text)
12. Ty Tang (Rain or Shine)
13. Cholo Villanueva (Air21)
14. Chito Jaime (Sta. Lucia)
15. Kelvin dela Pena(Alaska)
16. Jonathan Fernandez (Purefoods)
17. Jeff Chan (Red Bull)
18. Mark Cuevas (Red Bull)
19. -- passed** (Red Bull)
20. Christian Cabatu(Sta. Lucia)

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The 2008 PBA Rookie draft will be held today at the Market! Market! in the Bonifacio Global City consisting of two rounds.

49 rookies expressed their ineterest and applied for the draft, four didn't make it because of different reasons. Two didn’t show up for the two-day camp at Emilio Aguinaldo College - 6-7 Diomar Facun of the University of Manila (he would’ve been the tallest in the pool) and 5-10 Michael Olino of Rizal Tech (he would’ve been the oldest at 31). Two more were scratched out for failing to submit their original birth documents - 6-3 Charles Waters of Webster University (he was born in Clark Air Base, Angeles City) and 6-1 Chris Viardo of Pilgrim High School, Rhode Island (he was born in Hagen, Germany).

Gabe Norwood, the highly-touted Fil-Am who played for the National Team during the FIBA Asia Championships last year, is expected to be the number 1 pick overall. Jared Dillinger is being eyed by Talk 'N Text. Solomon Mercado, Rob Reyes and Jason Castro are all expected to be high picks.

Here is the draft order:
First Round
1. Rain or Shine (formerly Welcoat)
2. Talk 'N Text
3. Magnolia (from Brgy. Ginebra in the 3-way trade involving Rudy Hatfield et al))
4. Talk 'N Text (from Coca-Cola in the Asi Taulava trade)
5. Alaska
6. Air21
7. Purefoods
8. Magnolia
9. Red Bull
10. Sta. Lucia

Second Round
11. Talk 'N Text
12. Rain or Shine
13. Air21 (from Brgy. Ginebra in the Ronald Tubid trade)
14. Sta. Lucia (from Coca-Cola in the multi-player trade involving Alex Cabagnot, Dennis Miranda and Kenneth Duremdes)
15. Alaska
16. Purefoods (from Air21 in the Paul Artadi trade with Brgy. Ginebra)
17. Red Bull (from Purefoods in the Brandon Cablay trade)
18. Red Bull (from Magnolia in three-way, multi-player trade involving Lordy Tugade and Romel Adducul)
19. Red Bull
20. Sta. Lucia

The complete list of applicants:
Gabe Norwood,Jared Dillinger, Solomon Mercado, Jason Castro, Rob Reyes, Mark Borboran, Bonbon Custodio, TY Tang, Beau Belga, Jeff Chan, Jonathan Fernandez, Kelvin Gregorio, Cholo Villanueva, NCAA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Kelvin dela Pena, Kelvin Delafu, Pong Escobal, Larry Rodriguez, Patrick Cabahug, Christian Espiritu, Lawrence Bonus, Ryan Regalado, Mark Anthony Cuevas, Andrew Catigan, Diomar Facum, Michael Dizon, Ismael Junio, Christian Reyes, Angelus Raymundo, Eian Yu, Dennis Concha, Frankly Nailon, Michael Gonzales, Mark Yee, Rene Cunanan, Eder Saldua, Nestor David, Earn Saguindel, Nizar Kiram, Ferdinand Melocoton, Juan Luis Abad, Christian Cabatu, Nathaniel Cruz, Lei Mar Navarro, Jan Coching, Michael Olino, Chito Jaime and Ricky Natividad.

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The 2007-2008 Smart PBA Fiesta Conference Champions... The Brgy. Ginebra Kings!

Even with injuries hurting them since the start of the series, the Brgy. Ginebra Kings lived up to the never-say-die attitude they have been known for, survuvung a gruelling, seven-game marathon against the hungry but inexperienced Air21 squad with a 97-84 victory in front of more than 23,000 pro-Ginebra crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.

Erik Menk played like it was 2005 all over again, scoring 22 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, presiding over a third quarter onslaught that gave the Kings some breathing room. Ronald Tubid, who didn' play in the first three games, finished with a team-high 22 points while Chris Alexander, bothered by foul trouble and cramps late in the game, had 16 points and 19 rebounds.

"Every championship means a lot whether it's your first, second, third or what. But this one is really special. It's hard to explain how we won the series with all the injuries and tough challenges we faced," said Uichico, winning a second crown in four conferences with the ball club before a crowd never seen since the glory days of Crispa and Toyota in the league’s early years.

"The players deserve all the credit for not giving up. We could have easily given up when we lost Jayjay (Helterbrand). We could have easily given up when Mark Caguioa got injured. And we could have easily given up when the others also got hurt. But the players didn't," Uichico also said.

"Eric (Menk) has just redeemed himself. Tubid, meanwhile, really showed a big fighting heart as he returned to play in the series straight from injury. Bumalik sya noong kailangang-kailangan namin siya. Bumalik sya ng walang practice," said Uichico.

Menk and Tubid were adjudjed co-Finals MVP during the awards ceremony.

Mark Caguioa, playing through injury finished the game strong to wound up with 13 points while Junthy Valenzuela, playing in his first conference as a King, added 10.

Steven Thomas led Air21 with a game-high 24 points. Arwind Santos added 19 and Gay David had 18.

Scores:

Ginebra 97 - Tubid 22, Menk 21, Alexander 16, Caguioa 13, Valenzuela 10, Artadi 8, Crisano 4, Pacana 3, Mamaril 0, Salvacion 0, Reavis 0.

Air21 84 - Thomas 24, Santos 19, David 18, Canaleta 8, Billones 6, De Ocampo 5, Cruz 3, Arboleda 1, Kramer 0, Intal 0, Espinas 0, Sotto 0, Se 0.

Quarterscores: 26-21, 49-46, 72-63, 97-84.

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