CHOT Reyes is vacationing in Hawaii with the rest of the TNT team as part of their bonus for winning two PBA conference championships last season - his mind so far from the rookie draft happening in six days' time.
But he has seen the list of the 128 players that declared for the Season 50 rookie draft set on September 7 and it didn't take him long to reach a verdict.
"I think it's one-round deep," said the 11-time PBA champion.
READ Magnolia picking 6th; Ginebra 11th. See unofficial draft order
Reyes, in a way, is a bit lucky. TNT has traded away his picks in the first two rounds ofthe draft this season, so he isn't sweating over his choices, unlike other coaches who need to make hard choices in a draft pool that clearly lacks depth and size.
One of those is Rain or Shine's Yeng Guiao, who is the only coach with two first-round picks this year at No. 10 and No. 12, which it acquired from TNT in the 2025 trade that sent Henry Galinato and Jewel Ponferada to the Tropang 5G.
"Not too much size with this draft pool," said Guiao.
That figures to be a problem for Guiao, who has a young group loaded with talent and promise in the guard and wing positions, so had hoped to snag a big man or two in the September 7 draft to boost his frontline.
He will likely end up disappointed.
"Draft [pool] doesnt look as deep as last year but there are diamonds in the rough especially if you're looking for guards or wingmen," he said. "Kaso, kami sobra na [kami] sa wings and guards. Not too many options for bigs."
Cone stays hopeful
In more or less the same boat is Barangay Ginebra's Tim Cone, who clearly needs to upgrade a frontline that is still overly dependent on 38-year old Japeth Aguilar, more so with Isaac Go's return from injury still uncertain.
Ginebra owns the 11th overall selection as well as the first pick of the second round at No. 13 overall - too far, pundits believe, for Cone to get his hands on big men like a Geo Chiu or a Will Gozum. But the coach remains hopeful.
"Not sure, but hopeful," Cone told SPIN.ph.
NLEX coach Jong Uichico echoed the sentiments of his fellow coaches, noting that this year's draft pool - which will still be trimmed down after the Sept. 3-4 combine - "has a lot of quality players and average size for every position."
But Uichico said he's in search of a 'scorer' to grab with his No. 5 pick, so he should be spoiled for choice in a draft topbilled by guards Juan Gomez de Liano, Dalph Panopio, Jason Brickman, and LJ Gonzales.
As for Guiao, Cone and Reyes, they may have to settle for the best talent available. Asked what he's looking at, Cone said, "I don't want to show our hand, but quality big men are always a scarce commodity [in the draft anyway]."
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