JERIC TENG was one among the potential players expected to shine when he entered the PBA Rookie Draft in 2013.
He was selected 12th overall pick by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, but rarely been given the opportunity to showcase his wares on the loaded guard rotation of the Elasto Painters that has Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan, Chris Tiu, Alex Nuyles, Ronjay Buenafe and Ty Tang at that time.
Most of the time, he was kept on the bench until he bounced in and out of the PBA.
Four years later, his younger brother, Jeron Teng, joined the PBA Rookie Draft and was selected by the Alaska Aces in the first round.
Now the question is, can Jeron take a different career path in the PBA and succeed as a pro player?
His new head coach, Alex Compton of Alaska, believes Jeron has a lot of upside in his game, but that won’t be a guarantee if he would succeed in the PBA.
“You know the life of a pro player. A lot of factors could change whether you can be successful or not,” Mr. Compton told BusinessWorld. “There’s really no guarantee whether Jeron or any other player can succeed. Success can be a combination of a lot of things, but I could name ability as one and the second is injury. We saw how many athletes who have high potential to succeed go down immediately because of injury.”
“But one thing I like about Jeron is he’s a good kid and he has tremendous work ethic.”
But the younger Teng will be facing a tougher situation in his first season with the Aces as he has to contend minutes with established stars like Calvin Abueva, JP Mendoza and Kevin Racal in playing the small forward spot.
It’s a problem Mr. Compton would gladly take anytime.
“I see it as a good problem and I welcome this because you know in our system, we usually rotate players and no player plays more than 30 minutes per game, so we always need fresh legs out there,” said Mr. Compton.
“I don’t see Jeric playing the power forward, but at 6-foot-2, he’s a legit player to play the small forward along with Calvin, JP Mendoza and KRacs (Racal).” — Rey Joble
