ON July 1, 2014, then PBA commissioner Chito Salud pulled his hand out of a crudely prepared box to reveal a pingpong ball bearing the name of GlobalPort, making the Mikee Romero-owned franchise the winner of the draft lottery over Rain or Shine.
That event, now enshrined in infamy as the 'Salamangkero' controversy after Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao's criticism of the procedure's 'lack of transparency and class,' also marked the last time the pro league ever held a draft lottery.
READ Guiao hits out at 'crude' draft lottery
From then on, the No. 1 pick on each PBA rookie draft class simply went to the team with the worst record at the end of the season. Since then, too, it was no coincidence that each and every top draft pick went to either Blackwater and Mahindra.
The two expansion franchises settled for the last two picks of the first round of the 2014 draft that saw GlobalPort pick Stanley Pringle No. 1 overall, but have since cornered every top selection in each draft class since.
Take a look.
No. 1 pick Stephen Holt went to Terrafirma in this season's draft, Brandon Ganuelas Rosser went to Blackwater in 2021, Joshua Munzon to Terrafirma in 2020, Roosevelt Adams to Columbian (also Terrafirma) in 2019, CJ Perez to Columbian in 2018, and Mac Belo in the special Gilas draft and Raphael Banal in the regular draft went to Blackwater in 2016.
Even the two occasions these two didn't draft first, the original selections came from them: the first in 2015 when TNT picked Mo Tautuaa with the No. 1 rights it got from Blackwater in a trade, and in 2017 when San Miguel acquired the top pick from Kia (now Terrafirma) in exchange for three role players and a future draft pick.
That SMB No. 1 pick turned out to be Christian Standhardinger, but that trade was so controversial it drove a wedge in the league's board of governors and led to the departure of then commissioner Chito Narvasa.
That is about to change
After a fast start to the PBA Philippine Cup that came like a whiff of fresh air for the oft-troubled league, the Bossing and Terrafirma (the former Mahindra) won their first two games to occupy the unfamiliar position of league leaders.
While it may be too early to know if the 2-0 starts can eventually translate into a title or playoff opportunity for the league's two doormats, the reversal of form has significantly impacted the positions for the next rookie draft.
For the first time since that 2014 season, another team not named Blackwater nor Terrafirma is the frontrunner for the No. 1 draft pick and that is Converge, which sits at the bottom of the 12-team pile after losing its first two matches of the PBA Philippine Cup.
That early two-game gap between Converge and the pair of Blackwater and Terrafirma is huge, considering the FiberXers ended the season-opening PBA Commissioner's Cup tied for the worst eliminations record with the Bossing at 1-10 (win-loss), compared to the Dyip's 2-9 record.
LOOK:
[NOTE that all games, not only those in the elims, are part of the draft order computation. The elims records are shown here because we only wanted to show the final standings of Blackwater, Terrafirma, and Converge, which all missed the playoffs]
In previous years, the PBA applies a 40-percent, 30-pecent, 30-percent spread on the weight of the results of the Philippine Cup and its two import-laden conferences when determing the draft order of the succeeding rookie draft.
But since the league is holding a two-conference season, PBA officials said the result of the Philippine Cup will be given a 60 percent weight and the Commissioner's Cup the remaining 40 percent in terms of the next draft order.
So armed with a joint last-place finish in the Commissioner's Cup and a 0-2 start to the all-Filipino tournament, the FiberXers are right on track to break the Blackwater/ Terrafirma strangehold of the No. 1 draft selection.
No wonder the team is facing accusations of tanking to get first crack at a draft pool that could potentially include the Pampanga Giant Lanterns' Justine Baltazar, Fil-Am guard Sedrick Barefield and, who knows, may be even a Carl Tamayo.
So what do you think? Will it happen?
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