A SEMIFINAL appearance in the PBA 50th Season is what Converge is aiming for after beefing up its roster by drafting Juan Gomez de Liaño on Sunday.
Converge head coach and Pampanga vice-governor Dennis ‘Delta’ Pineda said they went after Gomez de Liaño in order to bring experience taken from his stint internationally despite still being relatively young at 25 years old.
“Especially ‘yung first pick namin, malaking tulong po ito sa Converge,” said Pineda. “Alam naman natin ‘yung experience ni Juan. Talagang international na po ‘yung games na nalaruan niya. It will be a big help sa Converge kasi puro bata ‘yung amin so makaka-add ng experience itong bata na ‘to.”
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In order for Converge to be able to pick up Juan GDL, the FiberXers acquired Phoenix’s No. 2 selection in exchange for Bryan Santos and their own No. 8 pick in the 50th season draft.
“Talagang si Juan po ‘yung target namin kaya nakipag-usap po kami sa trade,” said Pineda.
Gomez de Liaño joins an already competitive Converge line-up that will have Justine Baltazar and Justin Arana manning the frontcourt, and Alec Stockton and Schonny Winston in the backcourt.
Pineda is also bringing in former Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman and fellow Serbian tactician Djordje Jovicic as consultants.
With the personnel and the experience gained in past seasons, Pineda believes that Converge is competitive enough to make a deeper run this time. In three seasons in the league since acquiring the Alaska franchise, Converge made the quarterfinals six times but has not progressed farther than that.
“Three years na kami sa league. Etong mga bata, unti-unting nagkakaroon ng experience na nakita na nila kung gaano kahirap ang PBA. I think etong next season, magma-mature na ‘yung players namin,” Pineda said.
“Praying na sana, umabot na kami ng semis para naman po sumaya ‘yung mga fans ng Converge,” said Pineda.
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